12 
British Diving Ducks 
Writing of the breeding of this species in Algeria, Canon Tristram says {Ibis, i860, 
p. 164):— 
" I obtained a single egg of the Red-crested Whistling Duck in the open swamps. ... Fuligula 
rufina breeds sparingly at the lake, but remains there throughout the winter. The males appear to 
desert the locality as soon as the females sit, and are never seen again until the end of the autumn. 
I have observed that the female erects her scanty crest in imitation of her mate, and proudly throws back 
her head, walking with a stately gait. The nest is like that of the Coot, but not so large and better 
concealed, and without the gangway of rushes built by the other." 
Dr. Baldamus, who took ten nests in 1866-70 in Central Germany, states that : — 
" The nest is always placed in the rushes or flags, usually on a small island in the pond or on 
the flags ; and, like all ducks' nests, it has a foundation of rotten stems of rushes and dead leaves, 
on which a warm bed of down is placed, this down being plucked from the breast of the female. When 
the female leaves the nest quietly, she covers her eggs, as do all the ducks, even our common tame 
species. . . . During the time the female is sitting the males are to be seen on the water with those 
of ferina, leucopthalmus, and clypeata, but generally somewhat apart from them." 
Dr. Baldamus {Jour. F. O., 1870, p. 278) gives a list of a number of clutches of eggs 
in his possession, and proves that this duck usually lays from 6 to 9 eggs, and occasionally 
10. Fresh eggs were found from May 13th to June 17th. 
With regard to their habits in the nesting season Naumann says : — 
" At the beginning of the nesting time the pair keep very close together and always near the nest ; 
later on, when the female is sitting, the male bird goes away more, and often looks on at disturbances which 
befall the nest only from a distance, whilst the female appears to be much tamer and is easily sacrificed 
for her brood. Towards the end of July the young are, as a rule, able to fly. This is all which has 
hitherto come within our own experience about the breeding of this beautiful duck." 
Those who have had experience in studying these ducks are of opinion that they are 
shy and difficult to approach when in large flocks, but as easily killed as other Diving Ducks 
when found on small pieces of water. Mr. Stuart Baker, who has had many opportunities 
of studying the species, says (p. 213) : — 
"From a sporting point of view, the Red-crested Pochard is all that can be desired. About as 
smart as they make them, he seems to have special aptitude for judging the length of range of different 
guns ; and a flock may be caught once but seldom twice, whatever the distance the gun may reach. They 
swim so fast that they can by this means generally escape, and they are often very loath to rise when 
they can thus get out of shot." 
As a table bird the Red-crested Pochard resembles the Common Pochard and the 
Wigeon in its flesh. That is to say, when it feeds on fish and shell-fish it is rank and 
uneatable, and when it eats vegetable matter it is excellent. 
"On account of their great timidity," says Naumann, "you can only creep up to them to shoot them 
unseen and against the wind, if they are swimming near enough to the bank ; but as they almost always 
choose the open centre of larger pieces of water as their places of sojourn, there is in this case no other method 
than to approach them openly in a boat, which can certainly only succeed with solitary specimens if they 
have not yet suffered any pursuit at that place, and then not always, whilst larger flocks generally take 
to flight when within a hundred paces of you. Occasionally when flying round afterwards they get near 
enough to the boat for a lucky shot. In the morning and evening twilight they are sometimes by chance 
brought down when flying over. It is easy to creep up to solitary specimens which have wandered 
off to a small pond if some care is exercised, but they can seldom endure to be shot at by a gun 
approaching them openly. Birds which have been lamed by a shot are generally lost to the pursuer 
on larger pieces of water, even with the help of a good water-dog, as they do not easily tire of diving 
