COMMON POCHARD 157 



leased, or perhaps just before it; I am not sure which. One may watch Pochards in 

 courtship for a long time without seeing anything else, but the most interesting part 

 of the performance is yet to be described. The male throws the head and neck sud- 

 denly back until the occiput touches the rump or back and then quickly snaps it 

 forward into normal position again. During periods of greatest activity a male may 

 repeat these antics every half minute or so. Millais noticed that at times the male 

 lies very flat on the water and stretches the head and neck out to the fullest extent, 

 at the same time blowing out the neck and frequently turning the head to one side so 

 as to display its full beauty. He also thought that the pupil of the eye nearly dis- 

 appeared during moments of greatest excitement, while the eye itself seemed to 

 blaze a rich lacquer red. The best time to see the throw-back performance is early in 

 the breeding season, in late March or April. It seems to be discontinued during the 

 nesting season proper, but the mewing note and distended throat may be noticed 

 throughout, perhaps until moulting actually begins. 



The Pochard is a late nester, at least compared with the Mallard or the Pintail. 

 In western Europe the month of May, particularly the middle and latter part, and 

 early June, constitute the chief breeding period, though nests have been found both 

 in England and in Germany as early as April 26 and 28. In southern Spain a nest was 

 found on May 15 (H. Noble, 1902) and at Lake Fetzara, Algeria, most Pochards 

 were laying late in May and early June (Zedlitz, 1914). 



The commonest situation for the nest is on or near the edge of dense beds of dead 

 standing flags, over mud or shallow water. In England Pochards are said to select 

 situations where hundreds of Black-headed Gulls nest. Small islands are favorite 

 sites but occasionally nests are located on firm ground ashore, in the middle of a 

 clump of tall rushes (A. Chapman, 1912). 



The nest itself is uniform and strangely resembles that of the Coot. It consists of 

 a dense, bulky mass of dead flags roughly woven together a few inches above or even 

 touching the surface of the water. It is usually so placed that it is completely cov- 

 ered by the vegetation and is well hidden. Ordinarily the nest is lined with down 

 toward the end of the laying period. This down may be black, blackish or even 

 brown, with small inconspicuous white or pale brownish-white centers (A. C. 

 Jackson, 1918). In exceptional cases nests without nest-down have been found. 

 H. Noble (1908) says that he has found nine different nests in Scotland presumably 

 in late stages of incubation all of which were entirely without down. A. Chapman 

 (1912) found nests with half -incubated eggs near the Scottish border which had no 

 down. 



Clutches vary in number from six to eleven eggs, the typical number being 

 probably eight or nine. Exceptional clutches of thirteen or even fourteen eggs have 

 been noted (Naumann, 1896-1905; Newton, in Dresser, 1871-81). These last were 

 almost certainly the work of two females. 



