RED-CRESTED POCHARD. 149 



tliers of a uniform colour, but edged with a narrow 

 line of black as in tbe goosanders ; on the belly the 

 dark waving becomes much obliterated, and on the 

 vent the ground colour shades to blackish grey. We 

 have seen a variety with all the colours of a pale 

 tint, or what might have been called a cream colour, 

 yet having the colours marked in their particular 

 places. 



THE RED-CRESTED POCHARD, FCLIGTJLA? RUFIXA. 

 Anas rufina, Pall. Fuligula rufina^ Stepk., 

 Selby^ &c. Mergoides rujina, Eyton. Red~crested 

 Duck or Pochard of British writers. We place 

 the generic name here with a mark of doubt, the 

 species being of a somewhat aberrant form, though 

 perhaps only typifying the goosander in its own fa- 

 mily, both by the crest and form of the head and bill, 

 and by the aspect of the female, as well also as par- 

 tially by the form of the trachea; the habits, however, 

 are not known, and it is a rare bird, not only in 

 this country, but elsewhere, so far as has yet been 

 discovered. 



This handsome species was first noticed as a 

 British bird by Mr. Yarrell, who gave a notice 

 in the Zoological Journal of a male shot near 

 Boston while feeding on fresh water in company 

 with widgeons, and states that others were pro- 

 cured during the same winter in the London mar- 

 kets. While since that, a specimen has now and 

 then been obtained in different parts of the south of 



