2 0 British Diving Ducks 
birds leave in March, but Messrs. Ussher and Warren [Birds of Irelmtd, pp. 203-204) 
mention it as having bred in the following counties : Kerry, Tipperary, Westmeath, Neath, 
Sligo, Down, Antrim. It has recently been identified as breeding in co. Monaghan [Brit. 
Birds, Dec. 1908, p. 248). 
Asia: Asiatic Russia. — Buturlin (quoted by Dresser, Eggs of Birds of Europe, 
p. 567) gives Tomsk, Barnaul, Baikalia, and probably N. Dauria as its breeding grounds. 
Persia, — Probably breeds near Seistan (see four. Bomb. N. H. Soc, xvi. p. 698 ; and 
Ibis, 1909, p. 283). 
Africa: Algeria. — Breeds [Ibis, i860, p. 81 ; also Cat. Eggs Br. Mus., ii. p. 180). 
Migration Range. — In North Africa it frequents the lakes of Morocco (Irby, Orn. 
Str. Gib., p. 226) and Algeria (Locke), where I have seen numbers to the east of Oran. 
It is also found in some numbers in Tunisia (Whitaker, Birds of Tunisia, ii. p. 214), and 
abundant in Egypt in winter (Shelley and C. Whymper). It is also found in the Canaries 
(Meade Waldo, Ibis, 1893, p. 199). 
Asia. — In Palestine it is the commonest Duck (Tristram, P. Z. S., 1864, p. 454, &c.), 
and is found in the South Caspian and Turkestan [f. F. O., 19 10, p. 72) ; the Asia Minor 
coast [f. F. O., 1908, p. 283) ; Mesopotamia (Blanford, Zool. E. Persia, p. 302, and 
A, G. Tomlinson) ; N. Persia (Blanford); Kandahar [Ibis, 1882, p. 125); Quetta [Ibis, 
1909, p. 283); Kashmir; very common in N. India, and less so in S. India (Hume 
and Stuart Baker) ; Burma (Harington) ; China ; Japan (Seebohm's Birds of fapanese 
Empire, p. 254). 
In Southern Europe the Common Pochard occurs chiefly on passage in autumn 
and spring. It is common on the Danube and fairly so in Northern Italy; Corsica in 
spring (Whitehead and F. C. R. Jourdain); Sardinia [Ibis, 1873, p. 344); Greece (Reiser, 
Ornis Bale, iii. p. 504) ; Ionian Isles (Lilford). In Germany, on all open waters until the 
frost drives it south, and the north French estuaries and lakes. 
It is only of casual occurrence in Northern Europe. It has been noted in the Faroes 
{1863, Reinhardt), and has once occurred in Iceland (Hantzsch, p. 183). In Southern 
Norway it is rare, but is more frequent in Sweden (Nilsson). 
In England I have never seen the great flocks of Pochards that are to be seen at times 
in the large lakes of Scotland and Ireland. They are very common in the eastern counties, 
Norfolk especially, and large flocks may be seen on the Broads at times, but it is more usual 
to see, as we do in Sussex, bands of 20 to 50 on large pools or lakes, generally in March, 
or after a continuance of mild winter weather. All over the Midlands, Yorkshire, and 
Nottinghamshire this is the case, and flocks of a hundred and over are somewhat rare. 
If we wish to see large flocks of Common Pochard in the British Islands we must go 
to Scotland or Ireland, where on the great lakes acres of water are sometimes covered 
with the birds in late autumn and early spring. I have seen several thousands together on 
Loch Leven in October. In the estuaries of the Clyde and Tay, about Mugdrum, and 
on Loch Lomond and Loch Tay, I have noticed hundreds at one time, and after a spell 
of hard weather I have seen the bay of Musselburgh covered with Pochards. Here, of 
course, they had been driven by stress of weather, and would only remain a week or 
two waiting for a thaw. In the Western Isles, especially in S. Uist, large flocks of 
Pochards are sometimes seen, and often remain the whole winter (as there is little or 
