348 NATATORES. FULIGULA. POCHARD. 



compact body, and not in the triangular shape that we see 

 in wild ducks, &c. MONTAGU, in the Supplement to his 

 Ornithological Dictionary, states, that vast quantities of 

 these birds were formerly taken by nets, in a way similar to 

 that in use for catching Woodcocks. Poles were erected at 

 the avenues of the pools, or of the decoys, to which the birds 

 resorted ; and when great numbers had collected there, a net 

 at the darkening was raised by pullies attached to the poles, 

 beneath which had previously been dug a deep trench or pit. 

 The Pochards (which, like many of the Anatidae, feed at 

 night-fall), on quitting the pool, flew into the net, and flut- 

 tering downwards, were received into the pit, from whence 

 they were unable to rise. Twenty dozens, it is said, have 

 thus been taken at one flight. This mode of capture, how- 

 ever, is not now resorted to, from the decreased numbers of 

 water-fowl throughout the kingdom, in consequence of the 

 general system of draining; and the birds sent to market 

 now are either caught in the common decoy, or killed by the 

 fowling-piece. The present is a widely-spread species, in- 

 habiting during summer the north-eastern parts of Europe, 

 Northern Asia, and North America. In winter its migra- 

 tions sometimes extend tolerably far to the southward, as it 

 is reported to have been met with in Egypt ; and in America, 

 during that period, it is plentiful in South Carolina and 

 Louisiana. It is usually found in fresh-water lakes, rivers, 

 and marshes ; but occasionally on the sea-coast, near to the 

 Nest, &c. mouths of rivers. It breeds amongst the aquatic herbage? 

 and is stated to lay twelve or thirteen eggs, of a greenish- 

 white. The Pochard soon becomes very tame when in con- 

 finement, and will thrive well upon grain, &c. if supplied 

 with free access to water ; being unable to exert itself much 

 on land, from the position of its legs, and the great size of 

 its feet. The trachea of the male is of nearly an equal dia- 

 meter for upwards of two-thirds of its length ; from thence 

 it gradually contracts to its junction with the orca, or box ; 

 and is composed of entire cylindrical rings. The orca is not 



