THE POCHARD. 



pecially in severe weather, when it is very fat ; the flesh is su- 

 perior in its delicate flavour to any other wild fowl. In the 

 month of February only these birds are found in great abundance 

 in Connaught, in Ireland. Upon the continent, in the northern 

 parts of which it breeds, it is extremely numerous. It is abundant 

 at the Lake Baikal, in Asia, and is often seen in large flocks on 

 the sea-coasts of China, where it is caught in snares. In 

 America it is not uncommon, being plentiful at New York, 

 where it is called blue -bill; from thence found as far north as 

 Hudson's Bay, where it is supposed to breed. 



THE POCHARD. 



This species, like the pintail, and some others, is common both 

 to the old and new continent. With us it frequents the fens, 

 as well as the coasts and tide rivers ; in which last it is taken 

 sometimes extremely fat in the severest weather. It is not as- 

 certained whether ^;hey breed in England ; but in France one 

 has been shot in the month of July. Their food is small fish 

 and shells : they are found south as far as Egypt, about Cairo, 

 and in Carolina during the winter. They have a hissing voice ; 

 their flight is more rapid than that of the wild duck, and the 

 noise made by their wings is quite different ; the flocks observe 

 no particular shape in flying, as the duck, in triangles, but form 

 a close body. 



The pochard is about the size of a wigeon, weighs one pound 

 twelve ounces ; its length is nineteen inches ; breadth, two feet 



