The Poachard nearly resembles the American Canvas-back Duck, but is unlike any British species in form. Its body (of the male) is large, full, depressed, and elliptical in form; its neck long and thick; the head large, oblong, compressed, and rounded above. The plumage is dense, soft, and glossy. The feathers on the fore part of the head are small and stiff; on the remainder of the head and neck soft, silky, and blended. The wings are short, curved, narrow, and pointed. The bill black to a little beyond the nostrils, the intermediate space light greyish blue. The head, and half the neck all round, are of a fine brownish-orange tint. The Poachard (Fig. 91) is, next to that of the Common Wild Duck, the variety which is most plentiful on our waters. It is almost as large as the latter; it makes its nest in the rushes round pools or lakes, and feeds upon the roots of grasses and aquatic plants, also on worms, mollusks, and small fish. They are plentiful in the eastern counties south of the Humber, and in the fen counties; and it occurs in America, where, as Dr. Richardson states, it breeds in all parts of the fur countries, from the fiftieth parallel to their most northerly limits. Audubon found it abundant in winter about New Orleans, in East Florida, and in Chesapeake Bay. "Although they dive much and to a great depth in our bays and estuaries, yet, when in the shallow ponds of the interior, they prefer dabbling in the mud along the shores, much in the manner of the Mallard." [Illustration: Fig. 91.--Poachard (_Anas ferina_).] This bird reaches France in little flocks of twenty to forty in the month of October. It can easily be caught in nets. THE SHOVELLER. ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Blue-winged Shoveller: McGillivray. Common Shoveller: Selby, Jenyns. Shoveller: Montagu. LATIN SYNONYMS.--_Anas clypeata_: Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Temminck. _Rhynchaspis_: Bonaparte, McGillivray. FRENCH SYNONYMS.--_Canard Souchet_: Temminck. _Rouge de Rivière_: Figuier.