WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 49 
a browner head, a dark pencilled grey breast and duller 
tail-coverts. . 
The male has bright red or, rarely, yellow eyes; the 
- female, usually, at all events, brown ones ; the bill and 
feet are grey and black, as 7m all Pochards of this genus, 
lightest and brightest in old males. 
The male is about seventeen inches long, with a 
wing of about eight and-a-half inches, shank an inch 
and-a-half, and bill just over two. The female is 
smaller. 
This Pochard inhabits the whole north temperate zone 
in the Old World, breeding to the north, and migrating 
southward in winter, when it visits Northern India 
in large numbers ; further south it is less common, but 
occurs as far as Bellary. It has not yet been obtained 
in Mysore or farther south, nor in Ceylon, but is not 
uncommon in Assam and Manipur, and has been re- 
corded from the neighbourhood of Mandalay. 
This Pochard swims particularly low in the water, 
and very much down by the stern ; it looks ungainly in 
the extreme on land, but walks well enough when there ; 
it seems to rise on the wing with considerable difficulty. 
Like all Pochards, it is a ground breeder ; its greenish- 
grey eggs may number as many astwelve. A male’s 
eyes have been observed to change colour from red 
to yellow when it was handled. It usually occurs in 
India in large flocks, frequenting especially large 
tanks or jheels, but also the sea-coast. Away from 
this, it is one of the best Ducks for the table, and 
might well be called the Indian Canvas-back, since the 
celebrated American Duck of that name so closely 
resembles it that an unfortunate poulterer in Eng- 
land who had received Canvas-backs from America 
in ice was actually prosecuted for selling Pochards in 
close time! The Canvas-back (Nyroca vallisneria) is, 
however, very much bigger than our Pochard, darker 
on the head and lighter below, and with an entirely 
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