COMMON POCHARD 155 



It is difficult to distinguish Pochards from Tufted Ducks or White-eyes on the 

 wing when the colors cannot be seen. The finer distinctions between diving ducks 

 which often enable the fowler to put to shame the ornithologist, are mostly beyond 

 description, and are learned by long experience in the field rather than from books. 

 With a good glass it is easy enough to tell the different species on the water, espe- 

 cially males, at long distances, but when the birds are on the wing it is a very different 

 matter. The presence of a thick head, short neck and stumpy tail and the absence 

 of white wing-bars are good characters in flight. If you can see the reddish heads and 

 black breasts of the males they are unmistakable. 



The size of the flocks depends entirely on the abundance of the bird, the time of 

 year and the weather conditions. It is their habit to gather into enormous flocks at 

 favorite feeding grounds, and aggregations numbering thousands are not uncommon 

 in parts of the winter range. 



Association with other Species. Pochards associate freely with other diving 

 ducks, particularly Scaups, White-eyes, Tufted Ducks, Red-crested Pochards and 

 Golden-eyes. In the British Isles they nest in reed beds close to Tufted Ducks and 

 among colonies of Black-headed Gulls. 



Voice. There seems to have been much confusion in describing the Pochard's 

 voice. Naumann (1896-1905) and others have described the male's note as a hoarse 

 charr charr charr or Tcurr kurr kurr, the female's as similar but even more hoarse. If 

 the male has any such note as this I certainly have never heard it from either cap- 

 tive Pochards or their near relatives, the American Red-heads. The male's note, 

 which is a spring courtship call, perhaps also used in play, is a soft mewing sound, 

 not, I should say, so loud or catlike as the corresponding note of the Red-head. 

 This call, which Millais (1913) describes as "somewhat like a man affected with 

 asthma who is told by the doctor to take a deep breath," is accompanied by a dis- 

 tention and "kinking" of the neck, and sometimes, but not always, by the extra- 

 ordinary display to be discussed below. Many observers have spoken of a soft 

 Widgeon-like whistle, also heard from the male, and made use of by punt-gunners in 

 locating Pochards by night. I have never heard this note, which apparently carries 

 only a very short distance. There may be other sounds uttered by the male, but 

 I know nothing about them. 



The call of the female is a harsh, chattering croak, almost if not quite identical 

 with that of other female diving ducks, and frequently rendered by the syllable kurr 

 several times repeated. The females are very noisy in spring or when they and their 

 young are surprised. But in the winter quarters one may be among them for some 

 time before hearing the note. 



The trachea of the male is about eight inches (200 mm.) in length and almost uni- 



