SCAUP-DUCKS AND ALLIED SPECIES. 95 



SYNOPSIS OF TEE BRITISH GENERA AKD SPECIES. 



GENUS I. AYTHYA. POCHARD. 



Bill as long as the head, higher than broad at the base, 

 becoming depressed toward the end, of nearly equal breadth 

 throughout ; upppr mandible with the frontal angles acute, 

 the basal lateral sinuses short and wide, the ridge broad and 

 flat at the base ; the sides at first nearly erect, the edges 

 soft, marginate, concealing the ends of the numerous little 

 elevated lamellae ; the unguis small, oblong, flattened, and 

 decurved ; that of the lower mandible obovate, rather small, 

 and little convex ; legs very short ; tarsus compressed ; hind 

 toe very slender, with a narrow membrane ; outer toes about 

 equal, and double the length of the tarsus ; interdigital 

 membranes emarginate ; claws small, slender, rather pointed ; 

 wings short, convex, narrow, pointed, the first quill longest ; 

 tail very small, much rounded, of fourteen stiffish tapering 

 feathers. 



1. Aythya Ferina. Red-headed Pochard. Bill black to 

 a little beyond the nostrils and at the end, the intennediate 

 space light gi'eyish-blue ; head and upper neck brownish- 

 orange, lower part of neck black ; fore part of the back 

 minutely undulated with dark grey lines on a greyish-white 

 ground. 



2. Aythya rujina. Red-crested Pochard. Bill and feet 

 vermilion ; head tufted, and with the upper neck brownish- 

 red ; lower neck, breast and abdomen blackish-brown ; back 

 light brown ; an oblong spot on the shoulders, the edge of 

 the wing anteriorly, the outer secondary quills, and the sides 

 of the body white. 



GENUS II. FULIGULA. SCAUP-DUCK. 



Bill nearly as long as the head, about the same height 

 and breadth at the base, becoming depressed and enlarging 

 in breadth to the end, which is very broad and semicircular ; 

 upper mandible with the frontal angles obtuse, the basal 



