48 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



only a question of having longer time to give to watching them, 

 or perhaps the assistance of a good dog, in order to have the 

 confirmation of seeing their eggs. Taking the Garganey first, 

 I believe one of my shepherd friends has already found this 

 bird's nest ; for such I take to be a nest of eggs laid by what he 

 described as a " small pale blue duck about the size of a Teal," 

 which he found one year in the rough grass near the edge of a 

 fleet. Apart from this, however, my own notes of the bird 

 through last spring make me quite certain that it was breeding 

 somewhere in the district. My first entry is dated April 16th, 

 when I disturbed three of the birds from amongst a bed of 

 reeds. On May 13th, and again on May 18th, I saw single 

 birds, swimming on two different waters of the marsh — an 

 observation pregnant with possibility of a sitting mate some- 

 where near. There is one field covered with a good bit of 

 coarse tussocky grass, which I have in my mind as being the 

 nesting-ground of one pair. My exploration of this meadow 

 was prevented by a very obstinate shepherd, with whom I could 

 not manage to get upon friendly terms ; and, rightly or wrongly, 

 I lay the blame to his door of not having been able to confirm 

 my suspicion as to the nesting of the bird. I am hoping next 

 spring, either by diplomacy or strategy, to get the confirmation 

 required. 



The Pochard is a bird that seems also to be unknown to the 

 shepherds. It is, however, a sufficiently distinctly marked bird, 

 and, although I only noticed it for the first time to any extent 

 last year, I then had some very good opportunities of watching 

 it. But I have an egg, hurriedly taken (April 19th, 1904) when 

 bound by time to catch a train, which I believe to be a Pochard's 

 egg. The nest was in rushes close to the edge of the water of a 

 wide shallow dyke. There were seven eggs in it, but no downy 

 lining. The duck, as it flew off, had the appearance of being 

 dusted over the back with flour. The peculiarity of its appear- 

 ance made me take one of its eggs as I hurried along to catch 

 my train. Unfortunately, I was unable to get back to the site 

 of the nest again that spring, and so did not get any more 

 definite observations concerning it. But my notes of this year 

 are definite enough to prove the bird to have been nesting some- 

 where in the district last spring. In the middle of April I 



