CHAPTER XIV. 



THE POCHARD OR DUN-BIRD. 



(Fuligula ferina.) 



" How silly the wild-duck and widgeon 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." 



THE AUTHOR. 



THE pochard or dun-bird is, by nature, one of the most artful wild- 

 fowl in existence. The flight-pond, with its ponderous apparatus, 

 was specially invented for the purpose of capturing- these birds : their 

 cunning being such that they elude the vigilance of the most practised 

 decoy er. Pochards are fond of visiting decoys, and often frequent 

 them in large numbers : they may sometimes be enticed a considerable 

 distance up the pipe in company with widgeon ; but,notwithstanding 

 such enticement, they are not to be taken in a decoy-pipe. When 

 danger is apparent, they instantly dive, and return to the open water 

 by the route they entered, though beneath the surface. Other wild- 

 fowl in their company may be captured every one of them ; but not 

 a single dun-bird. Instances have occurred where an occasional 

 straggler, with less cunning than his fellows, has been hurried up 

 the decoy-pipe, en masse, with numbers of widgeon ; but it is, never- 

 theless, a rare occurrence to take a pochard in the decoy-pipe. 



As a species, the dun-bird is very abundant, the immense flights 

 which used to visit our coast being of almost incredible extent : and 

 it was nothing unusual, during favourable seasons, for several acres 

 of inland water to be literally covered with them, as closely packed 

 as possible for them to sit. 



When suspecting danger, and on a small decoy, it is sometimes a 

 difficult matter to induce them to take wing; but on large open 

 waters and tidal rivers they are remarkably wary of the ^presence of 

 human form. In decoys they will sometimes suffer themselves to be 



