100 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



same date ; also a white-tailed Starling was seen several times 

 on Cromer hills (Birch). 



Pochard Duck. 



A drake Pochard, which had lived with other pinioned water- 

 fowl for six or seven years, died on May 23rd. It had become so 

 tame that it would readilv take bread — which it seemed to prefer 

 to barley — from the hand, literally fighting for it when it was 

 hungry, if withheld. Its power of sight was extraordinarily 

 quick at long distance, but much less so in the case of near 

 objects. On the ice it was the most helpless of birds, owing to 

 the backward position of its legs, sprawling about at every step 

 it took ; while Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Pintail, and Shoveler could 

 walk with ease. Every summer it underwent a considerable 

 change of plumage ; the black breast became a rusty colour, the 

 head grew browner, and the grey vermiculations on the back 

 duller. But it cannot be said that this species ever assumes the 

 plumage of the female, or goes into an eclipse as the Teal and 

 Mallard and many others do. 



The " Pagets' Pochard," a hybrid between the Nyroca Duck 

 and Common Pochard, taken in 1898, and occasionally men- 

 tioned in these pages, is still alive. It is rather shy, and seldom 

 dives. The plumage is at its brightest at the end of January ? 

 when the bay colour of the breast is very rich in tone ; in the 

 more dingy plumage of summer its hybrid origin might be easily 

 overlooked. 



