260 



ANiaiALS IN MENAGERIES. 



~'A 





therefore easily pro- 

 cured, it is one of 

 those which every 

 gentleman may pos- 

 sess with advantage, 

 if his grounds con- 

 tain a piece of water 

 sufficiently large to 

 ^. ^ _ , admit of enjoyment 



-- - _,,,.--^^r^'rv-'.,-^i5K^ri>- to the hird, and where 



its dexterity in diving may interest and amuse the spec- 

 tator. 



This duck, like the majority of its congeners, is only 

 a winter visiter in the British islands, which it flies to as 

 a shelter from the intense cold of the northern regions. 

 It is then most abundant in the fens of Lincolnshire and 

 Norfolk ; but of late years the numbers have very con- 

 siderably diminished ; and the majority of those now 

 sent to the London markets, where they are often called 

 dun-birds, are procured by shooting. Mr. Selby says, 

 that in the northern parts of England, and in Scotland, 

 it is somewhat rare. This he attributes either to the 

 deficiency of some particular food, or from those districts 

 being out of his migratory line : we are more disposed, 

 however, to attribute it to the simple fact, that these 

 northern parts of the empire are too cold for the pochard ; 

 in proof of which he passes them over, that he may, by 

 going more southerly, secure to himself a warmer at- 

 mosphere for the winter. Certain it is, that this bird 

 loves a mild and temperate climate,- for it extends its 

 southerly migrations in America as far as the lakes ad- 

 joining the city of Mexico, as specimens which have been 

 sent direct from thence sufficiently testify ; while Dr. 

 Richardson establishes its migrations northward, during 

 summer, to the utmost limits of the fur countries, where 

 it breeds. 



The pochard is a remarkably good diver, swims very 

 rapidly, and flies swiftly in a compact flock ; differing in 

 this from the generality of ducks, which fly in a tri- 



