THE POCHARD. 227 
They are generally plentiful in our markets, where the young and 
females not unfrequently go under the comprehensive name of 
Widgeons. ; 7 , 
The Golden Eye flies low and rapidly. In the month of Novem- 
ber it reaches France in small flocks, to remain till the spring. As 
it is not a shy bird, the sportsmen on the sea-coasts of Picardy, 
Normandy, and the Landes, kill large quantities of them, 
THE POCHARD OR DUNBIRD (Axas ferina). 
The Pochard nearly resembles the American Canvas-back Duck, 
but is unlike any British species in form. Its body (of the male) 
Fig. 85.—Pochard. 
is large, full, depressed, and elliptical in form; its neck long and 
thick ; the head large, oblong, compressed, and rounded above. The 
plumage is dense, soft, and glossy. ‘The feathers on the fore part 
of the head are small and stiff; on the remainder of the head and 
neck, soft, silky, and blended. ‘The wings are short, curved, narrow, 
and pointed ; the bill black to a little behind the nostrils, the inter- 
mediate space light greyish blue; the head, and half the neck all 
round, are of a fine brownish-orange tint. 
The Pochard (Fig. 85) is, next to that of the Common Wild Duck, 
the variety which is most plentiful on our waters. It is almost as 
large as the latter ; it makes its nest m.the rushes round pools or 
lakes, and feeds upon the roots of grasses and aquatic plants, also on 
worms, molluscs, and small fish. ‘They are plentiful in the eastern 
counties south of the Humber, and in the fen counties; and it 
occurs in America, where, as Dr. Richardson states, it breeds in all 
