Common Pochard 
23 
where I shot with the big gun for three seasons, and if the frost continued for more than 
ten days the birds left for the winter, most probably for the open water of the south-west, 
not returning until the lakes were open in March. 
Whilst swimming, flying, or under excitement the male makes use of a hoarse " karr- 
karr-karr" note, that of the female being deeper like kurr-kurr-kurr." Sometimes the 
call is repeated four or five times. This cry on the part of the male is, however, quite 
different from the note used during courtship or the groaning wheeze which it utters as 
a low call-note to attract attention. 
The principal food in summer and autumn is vegetable and freshwater molluscs. 
They eat large quantities of the roots, seeds, leaves, and flowers of aquatic plants, which 
they take and swallow at the bottom. They are especially fond of the seeds of Polygonum 
amphibiuni, and, in the autumn, of the seeds of Potamogeton marinus and P. pectinatus, also 
the tender parts of Myriophyllum. 
In confinement they refuse many hard foods such as acorns, &c., which surface-feeding 
ducks will eat with avidity. 
In summer the young birds eat quantities of floating insects, but the old birds seem to 
take few of these, although they catch numbers of water beetles, small fish, tadpoles, and 
small frogs. With their liking for seeds of all kinds, it is not diflicult to get Pochards 
to feed on any sort of grain or bird seeds. Like other diving ducks, they swallow a 
considerable quantity of sand or small stones to assist digestion. 
Pochards seldom go on land to feed unless upon some mound of mud and water-reeds 
which drought or a falling lake has exposed. They also seldom tip up the hind part of the 
body to reach food with the bill. They are not averse, however, to taking floating seeds 
and insects off the surface of the water. 
The Pochards that intend to nest within a certain area follow the general rule of all 
diving ducks and arrive in one flock, generally on the largest sheet of open fresh water 
in the neighbourhood from the loth to the 15th of March, or even later if the weather 
is still inclement. The curious groaning wheeze of the male may now be frequently heard, 
and courtship commences. The finest coloured males being those of two years or over, 
are always the first to pair, and drive off the young males which, at a distance, may appear 
to be adult. The latter remain in a flock apart and seem to be easily discouraged from 
paying attention to the females. If, however, there is not a preponderance of males, as 
there usually is in the case of this duck, these young males will often pair with the females, 
who are quite ready to make love to them. 
Beyond a remark in Dresser (Birds of Europe, p. 554) to the effect that a male "would 
extend himself at full length on the water and utter the softest of sounds," I have read 
no description of the courtship of the Pochard, which is certainly an attractive one. 
At the commencement of courtship, generally on the first warm day, several males are to be 
seen showing off before one duck. In most birds, pairing is generally due to the disposition 
on the part of the female to accept attentions, and you will usually notice that some 
particular female is in advance of the rest of her sex in this respect. As I have shown 
in my drawing, which is done direct from life, four or five males are crowding round one 
female who, in turn, circles round some male, dipping her bill in the water, stretching her 
neck low on the water, and occasionally uttering her coarse cry of " kurr-kurr-kurr." The 
