278 THE TUFTED POCHARD.
except in the north of the Coimbatore* district, nor has it been
yet recorded from Ceylon. Here too, however, our Information
is very imperfect, and stragglers will probably turn up in many
districts whence the species has not yet been noticed.
Outside our limits, this species is said to be common in China,
as far south as Formosa at any rate, (and doubtless it goes further
Month), from October to March, and it has likewise been obtained
in Japan.
It is not scarce on the spring migration in Mongolia and
at the Koko-Nor, and some few remain to breed at Lake Flanka.
It is common and breeds in Dauria, arriving about the middle
of May and leaving towards the close of October. Similarly
it is common in South-eastern Siberia in summer. But Middendorff
did not apparently meet with it in Northern Siberia,
nor have our explorers met with it in Eastern Turkestan.
In Western Turkestan,-!* however, it occurs on passage throughout
and remains in some districts the whole winter. In this
season, too, it is not uncommon in Afghanistan, both Northern
and Southern, and has been sent from Beluchistan. It is
abundant on the Caspian, and will probably prove to occur in
suitable localities throughout Persia, in winter, since besides
occurring in Beluchistan and on the Caspian, it has been sent
from Mesopotamia, and is not uncommon at that season in
Asia Minor and Palestine. In Lower Egypt it is very common,
extending southwards along the Nile into Nubia, and Blanford
found it in pairs, in May, on Lake Ashangi in Abyssinia
in about 12° 30' North Latitude (about the same latitude as
Madras), but, be it remembered, at an elevation of 8,500 feet.
Westwards it is a' winter visitant to the rest of Northern
Africa, and it seems to occur throughout Europe (excluding
Iceland), to the major portion of the Continent as a cold
weather visitant only, but breeding in England occasionally,
and more regularly in Norway (to the extreme north), Northern
Sweden, Finland, Northern and Central Russia and
Northern Germany.
• Mr. Albert Theobald, who has collected for year?;, in the southernmost districts
of the Madras Presidency, writes :—
'•I have only seen this duck in the northern part of Coimbatore and in the
Mysore country; they come in at the latter end of November and leave about
April or May. They are not very common and keep in small Hocks of four to
six.
" It prefers large open tanks or lakes, keeping to the middle. I am not certain
if they resort to the lields at nights, as I have not shot lliem in such localities.
•• The best ivay to shoot them is to have a small punt or canvas canoe disguised
with green boughs tied to the prow, and gently propelled by paddling, or by a man
swimming behind with Ins hands on the stein of the boat."
t No 376. — ( EPKMIA CRI5TATA (T.) of Dresser's notes on SevertzofTs Fauna of
Turkestan. Ibis, 1S76, p. 420, can only be meant for this species, though I.inne
(and 1,. only stands for the great Swedish Naturalist) never called any duck
ciisfiita, and the present species can, in no possible manner, be classed as a Scotter.
THE TUFTED POCHARD. 279
I HAVE seen this Pochard as early as the 12th of October in
Etawah (Doab, NorthAVest Provinces), and again in this same
district as late as the 9th of April ; but taking Northern India
generally, the mass of the birds do not arrive before the second
week of November and leave about the close of March. They
arrive later, and perhaps linger later in the south. Jcrdon
notes that he killed one in June in Hyderabad (Nizam's Dominions),
and I have had several notes of single birds being seen
in the Dcccan, Gujerat and the Central India Agency in May ;
but these are certainly abnormal occurrences, and I believe that
even in the south it is very rare to sec them after the 15th of
April.
Large, fairly deep sheets of open water, surrounded however
with rushes or reed beds, and with plenty of weeds in parts,
are what the Tufted Duck prefers. On huge bare-shored
lakes, like the Sambhar, they are scarcely ever seen, and one
very seldom meets with them on rivers. Single birds or small
parties may be found on almost any broad in which the water is
tolerably deep in some places, but the huge flocks in which
they love to congregate are only met with on large lakes, such
as I have above referred to.
At the Manchar Lake I saw two enormous flocks. I have
repeatedly seen similar flocks in old times at the Najjafgarh
and other vast jhils in the Punjab, the North-West Provinces
and Oudh ; and I should guess that at the Kunkrowli Lake in
Oodeypore there must have been nearly ten thousand, covering
the whole centre of the lake.
These birds arc shy, and keep during the day as a rule so
constantly in the middle of bright water, and so far from any
position in which one can watch them closely, that I know but
little of their habits. I fancy that they feed chiefly by day,
partly because they are so constantly at work diving, both in
the mornings and afternoons, and partly because I have never
once shot them in India (I have in England) when flight-shooting.
In places wheie they are unmolested you may pick up a
few by long shots from an ordinary boat, or even a good number
by sailing down through them ; but it is impossible here, except
under special conditions, to make any real bag of them without
a regular gun-punt and swivel.
This species has, I think, an easier, smoother and more rapid
flight than most of the other Pochards, and rises much more
rapidly and with less fluster than these ; but still like these it
strikes the water once or twice with its feet, and makes a loud
splashing sound when rising in numbers. It swims rather
deep in the water and very rapidly, and dives constantly,
keeping under water for a surprising time. When you
try to get near them in any slow native boat, the fresh fowl
seldom think of rising, but swim and dive away from you quite
as quickly as the boat can go. Even when a gun is fired they