334 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE POCHARD. 



POKER, DUNBIRD, OR GREAT-HEADED WIGEON. 



(Anas Feruia, Linn. Canard wilou-in, Temm. 



THE Pochard is nineteen inches in length, and 

 two feet and a half in breadth, and weighs about 

 one pound thirteen ounces. The bill is of a dark 

 lead-coloured grey, with the tip and sides, near the 

 nostrils, black: irides fine deep yellow. The head 

 and neck are of a glossy chesnut, joined to a large 

 space of sooty black which covers the breast, and 

 is spread over the shoulders : the lower part of the 

 back, the rump, tail coverts, and vent, are also 

 black: the rest of the plumage, both above and 

 below, is wholly covered with prettily freckled slen- 

 der dusky threads, disposed transversely in close-set 

 zig-zag lines, on a pale ground, more or less shaded 

 off with ash and brown. The primary quills are 

 brown, with dusky tips ; the secondaries lead grey, 

 tinged with brown, and slightly tipped with dull 



