POCHARD.
hows of llic boat just touching the stOQQS, :i wUu htm etna slowly down from the moor to tin' wtitcr-sidi'.
After a few minutes she appronehcd the punt ami smelling it carefully, hop]*'d right on to the deek. Here she
appeared perfectly nt homo, timing her head from side to side and regarding us with the greatest unconcern.
Ilaiing indulged at length in a snilfat the mania of the leg guti, the scent of the powder evidently proved
distasteful, and a rapid retreat was made tn the hank. Still puzzled by the aspect of the punt and its crew,
she refused (o quit the spot ; and when at length we moved further west, she accompanied us on the lochside,
stopping from lime to lime to ga/e intently from the bank while the craft continued in view.
Pochards, on their first arrival on our northern shores in autumn, are by no means shy, but
are gradually rendered excessively wary by the constant persecution to which they are exposed in almost
every county while on the journey southward; till in the end no little skill is Deeded to work a punt
within gun-shot by day. The large Hocks may, however, he approached with some chance of success just
lx'fore daybreak. After feeding during the night they seem disinclined to got on wing with their
accustomed promptness, drawing at first together if carefully niitneuvml; occasionally, however, they
spread out in line and H im rapidly away, when, aide! by their largely-web! icd and powerful feet, pursuit
is utterly hopeless. I had made a heavy shot at these birds some winters back in the east of Norfolk,
and the following morning was again on the look-out for the flock. Though prevented by a thick fog
from finding them for a considerable time, I at last caught sight through the haze of apparently oue
hundred at least swimming close together at a distance of about sixty yards, and had brought (he gun to hear—
my finger was on the lanyard—when suddenly a head surmounted by a sou'wester was raised in the centre
of the object, and the flock of Pochard resolved itself into a man in a punt, lying broadside within ten or
fifteen yards of the muzzle of my gun. The imprfecl light, coupled with the dense easterly haze,
imparted to the long low craft the exact outline presented by a string of these fowl when sunk deep in
the water to avoid danger.
There are no cripples so difficult to gather as the dii big ducks, and the Pochard is certainly one of the
toughest to disable outright. After the big gun has been successfully fired, and a goodly number of dead
and wounded sighted on the water, the work is far from over : spreading out in every direction the brokenwinged
birds rapidly separate, and with the least breeze on the water, it is highly improbable that even a
quarter will he recovered. 11' carefully watched during a dead calm, it will be seen that on coming to
the surface for air in many instances a purlioa only of the beak is exposed, the bird again instantly submerging
itself with scarcely a ripple to betray its posiliun. Al limes, with head and neck extended level
with the water and flapping i igorously the uninjured joints of tin- w inga, they w ill rush for some twenty or
thirty yards over the surface, then disappearing wilh a sudden spring, vanish entirely from view. On the
lochs of the north and the broads of the eastern counties where the water is preserved there is, however, little
difficulty in eventually securing the greater number of the wounded, as on searching round the reed-beds
or among the water-plants in still weather they may generally be detected. A frost sufficiently hard to " lay
the whole of the bush"' ' at once drives them to the open water, when, deprived of all cover, they fall easy
In the eastern counties Pochards exhibit a decided partiality to the society of Coots; it is seldom the
two species are seen on the same broad unless in company. Some twelve or fifteen years ago, I often
watched immense bodies feeding in company, two or three acres of water having been at times almost black
with birds ; their nunilicrs, however, unless alarmed and put in motion, could scarcely be estimated, as many
were constantly disappearing below the surface.
Previous to having I lie Norfolk waters on the approach of spring, I have repeatedly remarked small
]iiirlies ennqmsed entirely or drakes in the brightest stage, of plumage. Tor a week or ten days after the
Mth of March, 1K7;| (the weather at the time being cold with strong uortb-easterly breezes), I noticed
that the birds, though previously wild, were now exceedingly confiding, allowing the punt to approach within
the distance of fifty or sixty yards without exhibiting the slightest signs of alarm. In order to ascertain
whether they had acquired the rank llavour usually looked for in wildfowl when the shooting-season
is over, I took advantage of an unsuspecting half-dozen floating quietly with their beaks buried in the plumage
of the back, and securing the whole, discovered that for the table they bad by no means deteriorated, though
Mallard and Wigeon were at this dale decidedly unpalatable. The Pochard, according to my opinion,
is the only diving duck that can possibly lay elaim to lie tsonsidered a delicacy; and even at its best, alter
feeding regularly on the inland breads or lakes, this species is not to be compared with any of the smallfuotiil
wildfowl, such as Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveller, or Teal.
While afloat on the saltwater filths of the north, or the muddy harbours ami estuaries of the southern
and eastern coasts, Pochards are forced to subsist on minute shellfish and insects of various kinds, as well
as a certain amount of marine vegetation. Their favourite diet, however, consists of portions of freshwater
weeds or plants that grow so profusely in the shallow lakes ami pools to which this species would doubtless
resort more frequently if unmolested. Formerly when decoys wen man common in the eastern Bounties,
and even since the pipes have ceased working, immense flocks of Puclinrds rested during the day on the
protected water, making their way as soon as dullness set in for the large broads, in order to make a meal
oil' their favourite weed. The old gunners in several districts speak with unfeigned regret of the imiuciisn
flocks that came "roaring'' over certain spots iu the marshes regularly at dusk, affording in squally weather,
w hen the line of Jlight was low, exit llent chances for picking up a few couple of birds. Of late years, i
most of the decoys have been done away with, the numbers of Pochards have greatly decreased i
district.
. the
Though I failed to detect the nest, and never met with a chance of examining the young in duwn, it
is well known that Pochards breed in more than one locality in limit Uritain. A few stragglers continue
in the Highlands dining April, but after that date the spivies is seldom observed. On two or three occasions,
however, between the 11th and M b of June, 1800, when visiting Loeh Slyn, I noticed a couple of drakes
on the water: these birds appoan-d unusually regardless of danger; and anxious to ascertain whether they
remained of their own free will, or their presence at this season was the result of wounds, I pressed them
elosclv in the punt, when rising at once on wing they made the circuit of the loch, and nftcr a short night
let ml ml to the water. Judging by their actions, I am of opinion I bat the females were siding on some of the
marshy spots near at hand.
My notes for the summer of IsT^euntaiu a reference to a Hock observed iu Norfolk in July; a short
rxfract may not he out of place, as the state of the weather is given, as well as a list of other strangers
putting iu an appearance at the same time: —
*• July 2<>. Not a breath of air below, though the clouds were moving from the south-west. Soon
after daybreak then- was every appearance of a tempesl, the sky to the north and west being as black as night.
1 had often previously remarked during stormy weather al this season that flocks of waders, as well as
sen-binls and fowl, were noticed in the district. There were this morning on the various hills ruuud the
broad numerous small parties of Curlew, Wbiuibrel, Ureenshank, Gulden Plover, Dunlin, and fling-lJoiloel.
An immature Green Sandpiper was idiot, and also a couple of Black 'ferns, the latter exhibiting tin' change
into their winter dress, I state of plumage in w bieh this spceies is seldom met with. A bunch of about a
tan Pochards continued flying over the water for some time; they seemed inclined to settle, hut were
at lcti"lh disturbed by a shot. Itefore mid-day the weather cleared oil', and the whole of the strangers had
taken their departure, the hills being deserted save by the resident parties of Itedlegs, Peewits, and Snipes.