NYROCA ERYTHROPHTHALMA. 



SOUTH AFRICAN POCHARD. 



(Plate 62.) 



Anas erythrophthahna, Wied-Neuvvied, Beitr, iv, p. 929 (1823). 



Aythia capensis, Sharpe's ed. Layard Birds of S. Afr., p. 760 (1875-84) ; 

 Nicolls & Eglington, Sportsman in S. Afr., p. 129 (1892). 



Nyroca brunnea, Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvn, p. 351 (1895) 

 (see also Nyroca erythrophthahna, p. 353). 



Nyroca erythrophthalma. Woodward, Natal Birds, p. 211 (1899) ; 

 Sclater, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., iii, p. 352 (1905) ; Sclater & Stark, 

 Birds of S. Afr., iv, p. 147 (1906). 



Nyroca capensis, Reichenow, Vogel Afrikas, i, ^d. 108 (1900-01). 



Local Name. " Bruine-eend " of the Boers. 



Description. The birds figured are an adult male and a female in 

 the first adult plumage. Very old females have whiter faces. 

 Length about 20 in. 



Distribution. This is the only true Pochard found in South African 

 limits. Its range is from Abyssinia to the Cape Colony, extending 

 west to Angola ; it is also found in South America, in southern 

 Brazil and Peru. 



Mr. Sclater states that it is not very abundant in South Africa, 

 but in 1906-7-8-9 I found flocks varying in numbers from a few 

 individuals to many hundreds on various pans in the Orange 

 River Colony and Transvaal, and as a rule the bigger the pan the 

 larger I found the flock to be. 



These Pochards, like the rest of their family, are excellent 

 divers, and get their food, which consists chiefly of vv-ater- 

 weeds, plants and insects, under the surface of the water. 

 Sergt. Davies tells me that he met with a few of this species 

 in Griqualand in 1898, and that they were remarkably swift 

 on the wing, and while flying looked almost black, the white 



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