412 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



taceans and mollusks. Shot from fresh water the Pochard is 

 excellent for the table, but birds killed on the coast are rarely 

 palatable, owing to the stronger nature of their food. The 

 note of this Pochard is a rather loud and harsh kiirr. 



Nidification. — The breeding season of the Pochard in our 

 islands is in May, and fresh eggs may be obtained all through 

 that month and the first half of June ; further south they 

 are nearly a month earlier still. The nest is always near fresh 

 water, amongst the coarse grass and sedge and flags growing 

 round the margins of pools and lakes, and in many instances is a 

 floating structure, built on a mass of fallen vegetation many yards 

 from shore, in moderately deep water, or in a tuft of sedge 

 surrounded by shallow water. The nest is made of dry grass, 

 sedge, broken rushes and flags, or any other aquatic vegetable 

 refuse that may chance to be readily available, warmly lined with 

 down and a few feathers from the body of the female. The eggs 

 are from eight to twelve, or even fourteen in number, ten being 

 an average clutch, and are greenish gray in colour. They measure 

 on an average 2 "4 inches in length by 17 inch in breadth. Down 

 tufts large, grayish brown in colour, with dull white centres. 

 When the female leaves the nest she carefully covers the eggs ; 

 and to her alone is left all care of the brood. 



Diagnostic Characters.— (Nuptial plumage), FuHgula, with 

 the head and neck chestnut, and the lower back and scapulars white 

 vermiculated with black (adult male) ; with the axillaries white, 

 with a varying amount of white vermiculations on the upper 

 parts, and with no white alar speculum (adult female). Length, 

 17 to 19 inches. 



