GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 407 



Mr. Saunders, for some unknown reason, appears dubious over 

 its occurrence in these islands. 



Allied Forms. — None of sufficient propinquity to call for 

 notice. 



Time during which the White- eyed Pochard may be 

 taken. — August ist to March ist. 



Habits. — The movements of the White-eyed Pochard are 

 almost exactly similar to those of the preceding species. Like 

 that bird the present Duck is sedentary in the warm climate of 

 - the Mediterranean basin, but migratory further east in the colder 

 regions of Turkestan. In Cashmere it is chiefly a resident, but 

 to the remainder of India it is a well-known and, abundant winter 

 visitor, arriving towards the end of October and leaving in March 

 and April. Its haunts are very similar to those of the Red- 

 crested Pochard, moderately deep broads and lakes where weeds 

 abound, and occasionally rivers and ponds. Hume states that in 

 India it is very seldom seen in open water, clinging to the cover of 

 the reeds and rushes, but certainly in other parts of the world 

 it may as often as not be observed far out from shore in the 

 exposed portions of its haunt. It is also loth to rise from its 

 retreats, skulking close among the aquatic vegetation until com- 

 pelled by the advancing boat to rise. Its flight is moderately 

 quick, the bird rising with considerable effort, invariably against 

 the wind, and very often after flying in a straight course for a 

 little way dropping suddenly into cover again. This Duck is 

 not seen much on land, and its waddling gait is said to be even 

 more clumsy than that of its congeners. The water is the home 

 of the White-eyed Pochard, and there it swims well and quickly, 

 and dives, according to Hume, with Satanic speed. " Indeed," 

 he writes, " what becomes of them is often a puzzle ; the instant 

 that, wounded, they touch the water, they disappear, and not 

 unfrequently that is the last you see of them ; at most they only 

 rise once or twice, and then disappear for good. It is a waste of 

 time to pursue them ; if they do rise give them instantly a 

 second barrel." In India this Duck is not very gregarious, the 

 flocks, even when large, being scattered about here and there 

 among the cover, never rising en masse but individually or in 

 twos and threes as the birds may chance to be flushed. In 



