INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES, 611 



more rufescent and paler ; the whole tone of the bird is duller, and 

 the definition between the breast and abdomen is blurred and 

 indistinct, whilst the abdomen itself appears to be a sullied, not pure, 

 white. 



Irides grey or brown, perhaps white in very old females ; bill and 

 feet as in the male, but still duller. 



*' The eyes of the female are brown, rarely grey or whitish " (Finn). 



Length about 16" ; wing about 7*5"; tail 2'3" ; bill from point of 

 forehead l"?", from extreme base 1'98", from gape 1*9", in breadth at 

 base '61" and at widest part 85" ; tarsus about 1'4". 



'' The female is smaller than the male, especially about the bill, but 

 females in this species appear to vary in size much more than the males, . 

 and, as in the Tufted Pochard, some are much duller and less like the 

 male than others " (Finn). 



A young male in my possession has the whole head mottled brown 

 and black, the new black feathers showing the sheen of the usual green 

 gloss, the breast is a queer mixture of dirty yellowish-brown and the 

 deep rufous or bay of the ;^dult bird ; the lower abdomen and vent 

 is mixed brown and white. 



Another young male exactly answers to the description above given 

 for the female but that the definition between breast and abdomen is 

 very sharp, and the olive gloss on the wing is highly developed. 



Baer's Pochard is the Eastern form of the common White-eyed 

 Pochard, to which it is very closely allied, yet, as far as fully adult birds 

 are concerned, from which it is very easily distinguishable. It would 

 appear to average a much heavier, bulkier bird, and all the birds in my 

 collection, amongst them two received from Mr. Finn, have propor- 

 tionately the bill much larger, both longer and wider. Neither Blan- 

 ford, Salvadori or any one else, as far as I can gather, seems to have 

 noticed this ; but to me, when specimens of the two species lie side by 

 side, this vast difference in the bills is what would first draw 

 attention. 



Of course, my series is a very small one, and it is quite possible that 

 large series might show intermediate sizes in both species. 



Its range extends, according to Salvadori, from Kamtschatka to 

 Shanghai and Japan, descending South in winter into India, and 

 almost certainly into South China and Burma. 



