348 ANATID^. 



Marila nvroca, " Flem^ (errore), Seeb. Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 570, in 



syn. F. nyrocEe (1885). 

 Ilvonetta nyroca, Heine ^ Rchmc. Nomencl. Mus. Hein. Orn. p. 3i7 

 '(1890). 



Hybrids. 



Fuligula nyrocaxF. cristata, Selys, Bull. Ac. R. Bvux. xxiii. 2, p. 15 



(18-56) ; Leverh. J. f. O. 1890, p. 224, n. 10. 

 Fuligula nyrocaxF. marila, Leiierk. I. c. n. 11. 

 Fuligula nyrocax Aix sponsa, Lavison, Bull. Soc. imp. Zool. (TAccHm. 



X. p. 646 (1803) ; Leverk. J.f. O. 1890, p. 225, n. 12. 



Adult male. Head, neck, and upper breast rich chestnut ; a small 

 white spot on the chin ; round the middle of the neck a brownish 

 collar, more or less blackish ; back, scapulars, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts blackish brown, the scapulars indistinctly dusted with brown^ 

 chestnut; lower part of the breast, bellj', and under tail-coverts 

 white ; sides and flanks brown, tinged with chestnut ; sides of the 

 vent brown, freckled with white ; wings blackish brown ; a white 

 speculum on the secondaries, bordered posteriorly by a black band ; 

 tertials with a dark green gloss ; outer primaries dark brown on the 

 outer web and at the tip, white on the inner web, the remainder 

 white also on the outer web, but tipped with dark brown ; under 

 wing-coverts, except the marginal ones, which are brown, white 

 like the axillaries ; tail blackish brown : beak and legs dark lead- 

 colour, darker on the webs ; irides white. Total length about 

 16 inches, wing 7'75, tail 2*4, culmen 2'25, tarsus 1'12. 



Female. Similar to the male, but duller ; the chestnut of the head 

 browner, and that of the chest suffused with white and less clearly 

 defined from the white of the underparts, which is more or less 

 tinged with brown ; the feathers of the mantle and scapulars, like 

 those of the flanks, have buffish-brown pale edges (Seehohm). 



Young in first plumage. Head and neck brown, with scarcely a 

 chestnut tinge on the sides of the head ; breast and underparts 

 brown, paler, almost whitish, on the abdomen ; under tail-coverts 

 dull whitish {Mus. Turin). 



Young in down are dark brown on the upper parts, with pale 

 spots on wings and scapulars ; underparts buff', shading into brown 

 on the flanks {Seehohm). 



Hah. Western Palaearctic Region, as far east as the valley of the 

 Obb ; breeds in the basin of the Mediterranean, in Central and 

 Eastern Euope, and in Western Asia as far as Cashmere ; in winter 

 it extends in Africa as far south as the Canaries on the West and 

 Abyssinia on the East, in Asia as far south as India and Arrakan. 



a. S ad. st. England. Purchased. 



b. c? imm. st. No locality. Old Coll. 



c. S ad. St. Europe. Old Coll. 



d. cf ad. st. Europe. Gould Coll. 



e. $ ad. st. Norfolk. Purchased. 



f. (J. cS ad. sk. Fayoom, Egvpt, March Shelley Coll. 



{G. E. S.).' 



