206 Poachers and Poaching. 



always difficult of approach. If alarmed it pad- 

 dles rapidly away, turning its head and keeping 

 its eye on the intruder. As a consequence of 

 its extreme wariness pochards are much more 

 frequently netted than shot. This kind of 

 fowling was mainly practised on flight ponds 

 near the coast, especially in the south-eastern 

 counties. And this is how it was done : " The 

 water was surrounded with huge nets, fastened 

 between poles laid flat on the ground when 

 ready for action, each net being perhaps sixty 

 feet long and twenty feet deep. When all was 

 ready, the pochards were frightened up out of 

 the water. Like all diving ducks, they are 

 obliged to fly low for some distance, and also 

 to head the wind before rising. Just as the 

 mass of birds reached the side of the pool, one 

 of the immense nets, previously regulated by 

 weights arid springs, rose upright as it was freed 

 from its fastenings by the fowler from a distance 

 with a long rope. If this were done at the 

 right moment, the ducks were met full in the 

 face by a w^all of net and thrown helpless 

 into a deep ditch dug at its foot for their re- 

 ception." 



Most of the marine ducks are unfit for the 

 table, the pochard and tufted ducks being ex- 

 ceptions probably from the fact of their often 

 resorting to fresh water. Akin to the last is 



