4o8 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Egypt, however, the very reverse is the case. There Captain 

 Shelley observed them in vast compact flocks, keeping to the 

 centre of the lake, and the noise made by their beating wings" 

 and pattering feet striking the water as they rose, was audible 

 for a distance of two miles ! The White-eyed Pochard obtains 

 most of its food by diving and bringing up the weeds to the 

 surface, where they are eaten. Sometimes it remains under the 

 surface for nearly two minutes, but when feeding half that time 

 is the usual period. Occasionally it feeds on the surface, pick- 

 ing at the floating weed or the insects and shells clinging to the 

 leaves. It is for the most part a day feeder, and where plenty 

 of food is available seldom wanders from its haunts ; in districts, 

 however, where the water is not very well stocked, it starts off 

 at dusk to better quarters, but this appears to be quite excep- 

 tional. The food of this Duck is composed principally of 

 vegetable substances, aquatic plants, seeds of grass, rushes, and 

 sedge; but insects and their larvse, small mollusks, shrimps, 

 worms, grubs, and even tiny fish are eaten. The note of this 

 Pochard is described as a harsh kirr kere kirr, invariably uttered 

 as the bird rises startled from the cover. The flesh of the 

 White-eyed Pochard is said by Hume to be very inferior ; but 

 Isby, on the other hand, informs us that it is excellent. Either 

 this is purely a matter of taste, or difference in the food of the 

 bird. 



Nidification. — The White-eyed Pochard is a late breeder in 

 the extreme eastern and southern portions of its range, not laying 

 before Jane; but in Spain and Central Europe it is at least a 

 month or five weeks earlier. The nest is usually made among 

 the reeds and rushes at the margin of the pool, either on land, 

 or more or less floating on masses of rotten fallen vegetation or 

 drifting weed. Occasionally, however, it is built on a tuft of 

 sedge or rush ; and it has been found carefully concealed in a 

 bush several feet from the ground. It is made of dry rushes, 

 sedge, and other vegetable refuse, the finer materials being used 

 for the interior, which is again lined with down and a few feathers 

 from the body of the female. The eggs are from eight to fourteen 

 in number, ten being an average clutch, and are pale creamy 

 brown, a delicate cafe au laii hue. faintly tinged with green. They 



