1825, stated that this species then nested at Scoulton Mere,
a spot which has been abandoned for many years ; hut at
present it undoubtedly breeds on Lord Walsingham’s estate
at Merton, and, probably, in some other localities in Norfolk.
Hornsea Mere, in Yorkshire, has long been a well-known
and favourite station, and, according to Mr. W. E. Clarke,
about fifty pairs were there in 1881; there are a few other
places in the same county ; and Mr. R. J. Howard informs
the Editor that since the introduction of a pair of pinioned
birds on some reservoirs in Lancashire, several broods have
been annually reared there. Of late years a moderate
number have nested in Dorsetshire; and there may be some
other small and isolated colonies, respecting which it is unnecessary
to be more explicit.
In Scotland it is a generally distributed and familiar
species, and Mr. Harvie-Brown informs the Editor that it
undoubtedly breeds on a loch near Doune. In Ireland it is
stated by Col. Whyte (‘ The Field,’ June 2nd, 1877) to
have nested on his property in co. Sligo ; and Sir R. Payne-
Grallwey adduces evidence of its having done so on Lough
Derg, and Lough Beg. In the winter the species is very
abundant.
While here, it resorts to inland lakes and rivers, as well
as the sea-sliore, and though a difficult bird to take in a
decoy owing to its shyness and caution, and the facility with
which its expertness in diving enables it to get back under
water in the pipe, yet, from its abundance as a species,
great numbers are often taken ; thousands having been sold
in some winters in the London markets. Montagu mentions
that the method formerly practised for taking the
Pochard was something similar to that of taking Woodcocks.
Poles were erected at the avenues to the decoys, and after a
great number of these birds had collected for some time on
the pond, to which wild-fowl resort only by day, and go to
the neighbouring fens to feed by night, a net was at a given
time erected by pulleys to these poles, beneath which a deep
pit had previously been dug; and as these birds, like the
W oodcocks, go to feed just as it is dark, and are said always
to rise against the wind, a whole flock was sometimes taken
together in this manner; for if once they strike against the
net, they never attempt to return, but flutter down the net
till they are received into the pit, from whence they cannot
rise, and thus we are told twenty dozen have been taken at
one catch.
Pochards are in general remarkable for the excellence of
their flesh, and are probably little inferior to the far-famed
Canvas-back Duck of the United States, which they very
closely resemble in the colour of their plumage; but our
bird is the smaller Duck of the two. Pochards are best
while they feed at the mouths of rivers and about freshwater,
where they live almost entirely on aquatic plants ; but
when they feed at sea, on Crustacea and mollusca, they are
coarse and ill-flavoured. They feed principally during the
night. When not excited or alarmed, their note is a low
whistle, but at other times it is a rough croak. Pochards
are not so slender and elegant in form as the more surfacefeeding
Ducks, but are short in the body, depressed in form,
swimming low in the water, and bad walkers, from the
backward position of their legs ; an arrangement of great
service to them as swimmers and divers.
The nest is placed amongst the rushes, or other coarse
herbage, on the margins of inland waters ; the eggs, from
seven to ten in number, are of a broad oval shape and
greenish-drab in colour; the average measurements being
2'3 by D6 in.
The Author has seen a Duck which had all the appearance
of having been bred between the Pochard and the Ferruginous
Duck (the species next in succession); and Mr. Bond
has an undoubted hybrid resulting from this union. It
appears to be the so-called ‘ Pagets’ Pochard, described by
Mr. W. R. Fisher (Zool. pp. 1137, 1778), shot on Rollesby
Broad, Norfolk, and now in the possession of Mr. J. H.
Gurney, who has a second example, shot in the same county
in February 1859. This hybrid has been named I . homey a i
and F. ferinoides. In captivity the Pochard has been known
to breed on several occasions, but not very freely.