WHITE-EYED POCHARD. 571 



FULIGULA NYROCA. 



WHITE-EYED POCHARD. 



(Plate 64.) 



Anas njroca, Gilld. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xiv. p. 403 (17G9) ; et auctorum pluri- 

 moTXinx— Latham, (Bote), Naumann, {Jenyns), (Selbi/), (Stephens), {Macyilli- 

 vray), {Blyth), {Jerdon), (Hume), {Scully), (Oatcs), {Salvadori), (Deyland ^ 

 Gerle), {David ^ Oustakt), &c. 



Anas africana, ) 



Anas ferruginea, [ ^''"^^- ^^''- ^^- ^- PP' ^32, 528 (1788). 



Anas leiicoplithalmus, Bcchst. Orn. Taschenb, i. p. 450 (1802). 



Aythya nyroca {Guld.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 5G4. 



Marila nyroca {Gilld.), Flem. Phil. Zool. ii. p. 260 (1822). 



Fuligula nyroca {Gilld.), Staph. Shatv's Gen. Zool. xii. pt. ii. p. 201, pi. 55 (1824). 



Nyroca leucoplitbalmos {Bechst.), Flem. Brit. An. p. 121 (1828). 



Aythya leucoplitbalmos {Bcchst.), Brehm, Voy. Deutschl. p. 917 (1831). 



Nyroca ferruginea {Gmcl.), Sharpe <^- Dresser, B. Fur. vi. p. 581 (1872), 



The White-eyed Pochard, or Ferruginous Duck, as it is sometimes called, 

 is a somewhat rare straggler on migration to the British Islands, occurring 

 most frequently in the eastern counties of England. Gray only mentions 

 one instance of its occurrence in Scotland, but Jardine says that he obtained 

 an example in the Edinburgh market. Although the species was unknown 

 to Thompson as an Irish bird, two examples are recorded as having been 

 obtained in Ireland in 1871 (Blake-Knox, 'Zoologist,^ 1871, p. 2645), and 

 Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey records two that he shot on the east coast in 

 1879. 



The geographical distribution of the White-eyed Pochard is either a very 

 remarkable one, or we have much yet to learn respecting it. In Europe it 

 is not known to breed north of the Baltic, and only occurs accidentally in 

 Denmark and the Baltic Provinces. In Russia the northern limit of its 

 range appears to be Moscow, Kazan, and Ekaterinburg ; but in the valley 

 of the Obb Finsch says that he undoubtedly saw it as far north as the Arctic 

 circle. No other traveller has recorded it from Siberia, nor did Pj-jevalsky 

 meet with it in Mongolia; but since L^Abbe David records its abundance 

 in winter in North China, and Blakiston and Pryer have sent examples from 

 Japan, there can be no doubt that it must breed either in the valley of the 

 Amoor or in Mongolia. It is a summer visitor to Central Europe south of 

 the Baltic, but is a resident in the basin of the Mediterranean, though it 

 has not been found breeding in Egypt. It is an accidental visitor on 

 migration to the Canaries, a resident in the basins of the Black and 



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