3i6 DUCK GROUP 



seen offered for sale in the London markets, most of these are 

 probably of foreign origin, and the record of authentic British 

 specimens up to the close of last ccntur\- seems to be comparatively 

 small. Most of such birds as visit the British shores arrive on the 

 eastern coast between the estuaries of the Thames and the H umber, 

 and comparatively few wander either much farther north or any great 

 distance in a westerly direction. In Ireland, for instance, it had 

 only been obtained on six occasions up to the year 1 900, while it is 

 not much less uncommon in Scotland, although three instances of its 

 occurrence near the capital are recorded. 



In India the white-eyed pochard is usuall}- seen in small scattered 

 parties, or even singly, and when flushed it always rises in twos or 

 threes, instead of the whole flock springing into the air simultaneously. 

 It feeds to a much greater e.xtent on animal substances than is the 

 case with the pochard, and its flesh is in con.sequencc very much 

 inferior to that of the latter. To its nest and breeding-habits it will 

 be unnecessary to refer on the present occasion. 



Nearly allied to this species is the eastern whitc-e>'cd pochard, 

 Nyroca (or AytJiyd) bcsri, a species breeding in eastern Siberia, China, 

 and Japan, and easily distinguished by the black head and neck, which 

 are glossed with green in the drake, but brownish with only a slight 

 gloss in the duck. A single example of this pochard was obtained 

 near Tring in 1901;^ but very decisive evidence is required before it 

 can be regarded as anything more than one which had escaped from 

 confinement. 



ScauD-Duek ""^^ ^^^^ majority of His Majesty's subjects are 

 (Nyroca marila) iS'''oi'^"t; of the meaning of the word scaup or scaip, 

 it would be much better if the species known as 

 the scaup-duck were termed the mussel-duck, for it derives its name 

 from its habit of frequenting the beds of that mollusc between tide- 

 marks and feeding on the succulent contents of the shell. By some 

 writers it is called simply the .scaup, but such a procedure practically 

 ignores the meaning of the name. In not a few ornithological works 

 the scaup-duck will be found described under the name Fuligula mart/a ; 

 that generic term being employed by some writers in a wide sense so 

 as to include all the pochards, while by others it is used only for the 

 present species and its ally the crested pochard. The drake resembles 

 that of the pochard in having the feathers of the hack and .scapular 

 region distinctly barred or laced with fine wav}- black lines, but differs 



' Sec H. X. Rothschild. Bulhliu /hit. Omilhol. Cliih, vol. xii. ]>. 25 (1901). 



