WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 739 
of food it varies, being sometimes good, but often 
poor eating. Like most other Pochards, it breeds 
outside India, andits note is a deep grating kurr, rather 
a croak than a quack. The male has the bulb of the 
windpipe partly of bone and partly of membrane ; he 
sometimes whistles, this sound being apparently not 
made by the female. 
The other five Pochards (genus Nyvoca) form a very 
recognizable and uniform group. They all have grey 
and black bills and feet, and are clumsily formed, with 
large close-feathered heads. Except the Common or 
Red-headed Pochard, all have a white wing-bar formed 
by the secondary quills, and the inner primaries at least 
mostly white internally. The males, from their few and 
striking colours, are remarkably easy to distinguish, but 
the females are more alike, though less so than is usual 
in surface feeders. The young so resemble each other 
that their discrimination is the only real difficulty in the 
study of our Indian Ducks; they have generally a 
distinct plumage of their own in this stage. The male’s 
undress does not differ so much from his ordinary garb 
as is usual in Ducks. 
All of them have bills which broaden more or less 
towards the end ; and the male’s windpipe has a drum 
partly of bone and partly of membrane. The note is 
a harsh croak, like “‘ kurr,’’ andisseldom heard. They 
are all excellent divers, feeding under water, difficult to 
retrieve if only wounded, and more or less clumsy on 
land, where they seldom venture. Their flight is 
laboured, and they rise with difficulty as a rule. 
Independently of age and sex, they may be distin- 
guished as follows :— 
The Red-headed Pochard has no white bar on the wing 
as above stated. 
The Tufied Pochard usually has a narrow crest, of 
varying length according to age and sex. 
