RED-HEADED DUCK, OR RED-HEAD. 291 



body of a grayish- white, elegantly marked with narrow lines of 

 black ; the exterior wing-coverts and quills dusky-brown ; the 

 belly ash-colored and brown ; the tail consists of twelve short 

 feathers of a deep gray ; the legs lead-colored. The female has 

 the head of a pale reddish-brown," &c. 



From the above description and the investigations of natur- 

 alists, we are led to suppose that these two Birds are identical, 

 and therefore it will not perhaps be deemed irrelevant to the 

 subject to introduce a short history of the plan pursued in Eng- 

 land for the capture of this Fowl upon an extensive scale. 



" These Birds (Poachards) are eagerlj'- sought by the London 

 Poulterers, under the name of Dun-Birds, as they are deemed 

 excellent eating ; the greater part of what appear in the markets 

 are caught in Decoys ; but the construction and mode of working 

 is perfectly distinct from that w^herein the other Wild Fowl are 

 taken. A Decoy for Dun-Birds is called a flight-pond, and has 

 nets fastened to tall stout poles twenty-eight or thirty feet long; 

 at the bottom of each pole is a box fixed, filled with heavy 

 stones, sufficient to elevate the poles and nets the instant an iron 

 pin is withdrawn, which retains the nets and poles flat upon 

 the reeds, small willow boughs, or furze ; withinside the nets 

 are small pens made of reeds, about three feet high, for the re- 

 ception of the Birds that strike against the net and fall down ; 

 and such is the form and shortness of wing in the Poachard, 

 that they cannot ascend again from their little inclosures if they 

 would ; besides, the numbers which are usually knocked into 

 these pens preclude all chance of escape from them by the wing. 

 A Decoy Man will sometimes allow the haunt of Dun-Birds to 

 be so great that the whole surface of the pond shall be covered 

 with them previous to his attempting to take one. Upon such 

 occasions, he bespeaks all the assistants he can get to complete 

 the slaughter by breaking their necks. "W hen all is ready, the 

 Dun-Birds are roused from the pond ; and, as all Wild Fowl 

 rise against the wind, the poles in that quarter are unpinned, 

 and fly up with the nets at the instant the Dun-Birds begin to 

 leave the surface of the water, so as to meet them in their first 

 ascent, and are thus beat down by hundreds. At the pond of 

 Mr. Burton, at Goldanger, in Essex, as many Poachards have 



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