RED-HEADED POCHARD. 147 
common. Their comparative scarcity may be owing 
to the unsuitableness of the districts to their habits. 
They do not frequent the alpine lochs, and the 
places where they are chiefly found are river estu- 
aries and the larger pieces of water in low lying 
districts. We have once or twice shot this species, 
during winter, in tho river Annan. In the Edin- 
burgh markets it is a frequent bird, though its quali- 
ties for the table are not generally known ; tho 
supply there is chiefly obtained from the coast. 
Mr. Yarrell states, on the authority of the Rev. 
Mr. Lubbock, that the pochard breeds occasionally 
at Scoulton More, Norfolk, which is confirmed by 
Messrs. Shepherd and Wheatear’s catalogue. 
On the Continent of Europe the pochard seems 
also to be generally and abundantly distributed. 
It is not, however, traced commonly to the north ; 
and a few breeding in Holland can only be looked 
upon as a boundary of their incubating range, as the 
few stragglers may also be which remain in some 
of the more favourable English localities. 
Out of Europe it is said to be found in North or 
North-western Africa. In India it is found, and 
specimens we have seen are identical ; on tho pe- 
ninsula Mr. Jerdon states it to be not very common, 
and to be seen generally in pairs. In North Ame- 
rica it is common, being, however, in some districts, 
migratory, as at New Orleans, where it arrives in 
November, departing again in April ; it is also 
found in great numbers in the States of Illoinois, 
Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, but Mr. Audubon 
