DUCKS 2117 



Islands), Northern Africa, and India. On the other hand, the widely-distributed 

 scaup duck (F. marila), of Europe, Asia, and the whole of North America, may be 

 taken as the representative of a second group (the genus Fidix of some) in which 

 the adult males have no crest, but the whole of the head and neck of a uniform 

 black color; the beak being about equal in length to the second toe, with its nail 

 differing from that of the red-crested pochard by being small and narrow in place 

 of large and broad. In the male the head, neck, and breast are purplish black, the 

 back and scapulars white with black vermiculations, and the wing speculum and 

 under parts white. A third group {AZthyia of some) is represented by the common 

 pochard (F. ferina) of Europe and Northern Asia, and the red-headed (F. ameri- 

 cana) and canvasbacked duck (F. vallisneria) of North America, as well as other 

 forms. In all these the beak is rather longer than the inner toe, and the head and 

 neck of the adult males are red. Finally, we have a fourth group (Nyroca} repre- 

 sented by the white-eyed pochard (F. nyroca) of Europe and Asia, and the Austra- 

 lian white eye (F. australis}, which take their name from the white ring formed by 

 the iris of the eye. In the adult male of the European species the head, neck, and 

 upper breast are chestnut brown, the wing speculum white, and the beak leaden 

 blue; while in the female the head and neck are pale chestnut. 



During its sojourn in the British Islands from October to March or April, the 

 common pochard is generally met with on the coast, although in other districts, and 

 especially India, it is an inland bird at the same season. A bad walker, this duck 

 is essentially a diver and swimmer, associating in India in immense flocks on open 

 sheets of water of medium depth. These birds feed chiefly by night, but in undis- 

 turbed districts they may be seen diving at all hours of the day in search of the 

 stems and roots of water plants, which constitute their chief food. The same hab- 

 its characterize the American canvasback, which is met with in countless numbers 

 on the Chesapeake, where it dives for vallisneria grass, locally known as celery. 

 Both these ducks are most excellent table birds; and while in India the pochard is 

 taken by hundreds in nets placed in the water, the canvasback is usually shot in 

 America, one device being to attract the birds within range by going out at night 

 in a boat furnished with a powerful lamp and reflector in the bows. Such pochards 

 as remain to breed in the British Isles usually nest in May and the first half of 

 June; the nest being constructed of rushes, grass, or flags, sometimes placed among 

 the rank vegetation near the margin of the water, but at other times being a float- 

 ing structure. The greenish- gray eggs vary from eight to twelve or even fourteen 

 in number. Writing of the red-crested pochard, Mr. Hume observes that he has 

 "watched flocks of them, scores of times, diving for an hour at a time, with a per- 

 tinacity and energy unsurpassed by any other wild fowl. Examine closely their 

 favorite haunts, and you will find these to be almost invariably just those waters in 

 which they must dive for their food." Such haunts being deep broads where the 

 beds of water weed are several feet below the surface. 



The pretty ducks bearing these names, together with Barrow's 

 Golden Eye and ,, , ~, , . , ,. \ . ..., 



Buffelhead olc * en e y e (Clangula islandtca) of North America, constitute a genus 



characterized by the beak being much shorter than the head, and high 

 and broad at the base, but depressed at the tip, where it is covered by a rather 



