RED-HEADED DUCK, OR RED-HEAD. 309 



and upper part of the back, dusky black ; scapulars and wing- 

 coverts nearest the body of a grayish white, elegantly marked 

 with narrow lines of black ; the exterior wing-coverts and quills 

 dusky brown ; the belly ash-colored and brown ; the tail consists 

 of twelve short feathers of a deep gray ; the legs lead-colored. 

 The female has the head of a pale reddish-brown," &c. 



From the above description, and the investigations of naturalists, 

 we are led to suppose that these two birds are identical ; and there- 

 fore it will not perhaps be deemed irrelevant to the subject to in- 

 troduce a short history of the plan pursued in England for the 

 capture of this fowl upon an extensive scale : — 



"These birds (poachards) are eagerly sought by the London 

 poulterers, under the name of dun-birds, as they are deemed ex- 

 cellent eating. The greater part of what appear in the markets are 

 caught in decoys ; but the construction and mode of working is 

 perfectly distinct from that wherein the other wild fowl are taken. 

 A decoy for dun-birds is called a flight-pond, and has nets fastened 

 to tall stout poles twenty-eight or thirty feet long ; at the bottom 

 of each pole is a box fixed, filled with heavy stones, sufiicient to 

 elevate the poles and nets the instant an iron pin is withdrawn, 

 which retains the nets and poles flat upon the reeds, small willow 

 boughs, or furze ; within the nets are small pens made of reeds, 

 about three feet high, for the reception of the birds that strike 

 against the net and fall down ; and such is the form and shortness 

 of wing in the poachard, that they cannot ascend again from their 

 little enclosures if they would; besides, the numbers which are 

 usually knocked into these pens preclude all chance of escape 

 from them by the wing. A decoy-man will sometimes allow the 

 haunt of dun-birds to be so great that the whole surface of the 

 pond shall be covered with them previous to his attempting to take 

 one. Upon such occasions, he bespeaks all the assistants he can 

 get, to complete the slaughter by breaking their necks. When all 

 is ready, the dun-birds are roused from the pond ; and, as all wild 

 foAvl rise against the wind, the poles in that quarter are unpinned, 

 and fly up with the nets at the instant the dun-birds begin to leave 



