SOUTHERN POCHARD 225 



they do sometimes "tip up" in shallow places. Sometimes I saw them quietly dive 

 among lily -pads in order to escape observation, but usually they flew long before I 

 got near them. 



Flight. The flight is often spoken of as "very rapid," but B. Horsbrugh (1912) 

 does not think them especially fast and speaks of their having the usual " squatter- 

 ing" flight along the surface before they get started, just like any diving duck when 

 the weather is calm. Their appearance on the wing, at least that of the old males, is 

 very striking for they look jet black and the white speculum-patch is most promi- 

 nent (C. G. Davies, 1908). I have already remarked that to me they seemed very 

 light and active on the wing and the long necks and slender bodies give them any- 

 thing but a clumsy look. I could scarcely believe that they were diving ducks when 

 I first saw them. 



This bird does not seem to go about in large flocks anywhere, but singles, pairs, 

 and small flocks of six to twelve are often mentioned in field notes. Occasionally 

 flocks of hundreds are noticed as assembling in one place (East African lakes) but 

 such gatherings are certainly not the rule in most parts of its range. In the Crater 

 Lakes of Ankole and Kigezi in Uganda they were in little packs of three or four to 

 a dozen and once I saw a really large flock of thirty or forty. 



Association with other Species. There cannot be said to be much real asso- 

 ciation between this and other ducks. Neave (1910) speaks of shooting one out of a 

 flock of African Yellow-bills but Dr. Osgood writes me that the single birds which 

 he saw very commonly at Maracaibo, Venezuela, were alone (the females probably 

 nesting) and did not associate with the Masked or Tree Ducks that were plentiful 

 there. Professor Nation, who first described the duck from western South America, 

 found it on fresh-water lakes near Lima in company with the Bahama Duck and the 

 Cinnamon Teal. Neumann (1898) spoke of their living among rushes in what is 

 now Kilimandjaro Province, along with the curious little Maccoa Duck (Oxyura 

 maccoa). In the Natron Lakes, where it is plentiful, it was in company with African 

 Shovellers, the African Red-bill, Grebes and Coots (Sjostedt, 1910). I saw it on 

 lakes in Uganda which were swarming with Yellow-bills, Hottentot Teal, White- 

 backed Ducks and other species of ducks in smaller numbers. There were also 

 enormous numbers of African Little Grebe and the African Great Crested Grebe. 

 Their preference among the ducks was undoubtedly for the Yellow-bills with which 

 they were often closely mixed, and they had nothing to do with the White-backs 

 (Thalassornis) . 



Voice. I have found only one reference to the voice and this a very vague one 

 without distinction as to sex. They were said to utter a somewhat twanging, rather 



