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Baer’s Pochard (. Nyroca baeri ).


This is another East Asiatic Duck which has taken to

invading India of late years, and in considerable though now

dwindling numbers. When it first arrived, as it was then not

known from India and new to the London Zoo, I sent them

specimens, and since then our Zoological Society has sent a

further consignment.


Baer’s Pochard is very like the familiar White-eyed

Pochard, but differs from it by being rather larger and slighter

in make ; in having a deep green instead of mahogany-red head ;

and in showing a good deal of white on the flanks. As in its

ally, the eyes are white in drakes and dark in ducks. The

green-glossed head of the female makes her handsomer than

any other female Pochard, these birds being generally so lamen¬

tably dowdy, and the drake does not go out of colour to any

great extent, so that the species may fairly be called a desirable

one. But it is not likely ever to be so popular as any of the

others I have mentioned, supposing them all to be available in

Europe at any time. Nothing, however, is known of its breeding-

habits, so anyone who gets a pair and succeeds in breeding them

will be adding a new fact to the history of the Duck family.

The only interesting point I have myself noticed about the bird—

and I have kept pinioned specimens on our pond at the Indian

Museum for some years—is that it rises on the wing more readily

than other Pochards, an observation I was able to make in the

Duck Aviary at the Zoo here, where the birds are of course

allowed the use of their wings. This, if it shows superior

power of flight, may account for the somewhat erratic habits of

the species, which is not regular in appearance even in its more

proper haunts in China.


For some time it was thought to be a hybrid ; and,

certainly, when I first saw specimens in the market, I put it

down as such, as I did not then know the species. But since

then I have seen many, and there is no doubt it is a distinct

form. Birds in the dusty-brown of immaturity are, however, very

like young White-eyed Pochards, but may be easily distinguished

by their larger size and darker crown, a young Duck of this

species being as big as an old White-eyed drake.



