Red-crested pochard Red-crested pochard The red-crested pochard ("Netta rufina") is a large diving duck. The scientific name is derived from Greek "Netta" "duck", and Latin "rufina", "golden-red" (from "rufus", "ruddy"). Its breeding habitat is lowland marshes and lakes in southern Europe and Central Asia, wintering in the Indian Subcontinent and Africa. It is somewhat migratory, and northern birds winter further south into north Africa. The adult male is unmistakable. It has a rounded orange head, red bill and black breast. The flanks are white, the back brown, and the tail black. The female is mainly a pale brown, with a darker back
A Bird came down the Walk other evil forces.Then the narrator offers the bird a piece of crumb,but the bird neglects it and then it flies away. Helen Vendler regards the poem as a "bizarre little narrative" but one that typifies many of Dickinson's best qualities. She likens the poet to a reporter observing a murderer in the act, and later, pretending fear that the murderer may be dangerous to herself and must be mollified by a "crumb". The bird takes flight and Vendler regards what follows - the description of the bird in flight - as "the astonishing part of the poem". Vendler notes that