ANSERES. ( 115 ) ANATID&. 



THE POCHARD. 



DUN BIRD, DUNKER, POKER, RED-HEADED POKER, RED-EYED 

 POKER, GREAT-HEADED POKER. 



Fuligula ferina. 



How silly the Wild Duck and Wigeon appear, 

 To be lured in decoy by the pranks of an ape ! 



But crafty the Pochard, which cunningly dives, 

 And beats under water a certain escape. 



FOLKARD. 



THE Pochard is a winter visitor to the sea-coast and inland 

 waters of Berwickshire from October until March or April, 

 when it leaves for its breeding quarters. It is seen in con- 

 siderable numbers off the shore, but only occasionally fre- 

 quents the lakes, ponds, and rivers of the county, and then 

 singly, or only in small flocks. The first notice of the 

 Pochard in the History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 

 is in the presidential address of the Eev. Andrew Baird, 

 minister of Cockburnspath, delivered at Duns on the 18th 

 of September 1833, in which he states that at a meeting of 

 the club held at Cockburnspath, on the 16th of April of 

 that year, "Dr. Johnston mentioned that he had lately 

 received from the Eev. Mr. Campbell a specimen of the 

 Pochard Duck (Anas ferina, Linn.), shot near Coldingham 

 Loch. 1 



During severe winters the Pochard visits the Tweed 

 and also the Whitadder, in the neighbourhood of Paxton. 

 Several were killed on the former in the hard frost of 



i Hist. Eer. Nat. Club, vol. i. p. 16, 



