CLASSIFIED NOTES 543 



Bulgaria, Roumania, and in Russia from Poland, near Tjumen and the S. Perm government 

 southward. In Asia its breeding range extends from Transcaspia and South-west Siberia 

 to Turkestan, the Tian-Shan and the Kashmir Lakes. It winters in Northern Africa south 

 to Abyssinia, and in Asia from Palestine and Asia Minor, the Persian Gulf, and India east 

 to Arrakan, Burma. Casual in Iceland ; and visits the Canaries, and has occurred about a 

 hundred times in the British Isles. [F. c. R. j.] 



BAER'S POCHARD [Fnli ; /ul />aeri (Radde) ; Nyroca baeri (Radde)]. 



1. Description. Recognised by the black head and neck glossed with green, and the 

 white spot on the chin. The male and female are much alike in coloration. Total length 

 18 in. [457 mm.]. In the male the head is black, glossed with oil-green, excepting a white 

 spot on the chin ; fore-neck and chest rich chesnut ; belly and under tail-coverts white ; 

 the Hanks and vent dark brown finely waved with white; upper parts deep blackish brown, 

 washed with a greenish lustre, and finely vermiculated with red ; secondaries and their 

 major coverts white, edged and tipped with blackish brown; iris white; bill, legs, and 

 feet black. The adult female resembles the adult male, but is not so brightly coloured, 

 epecially about the head, which is dull black, and with a chesnut patch in front of the eye. 

 [\v. i'. i 1 . and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This species breeds in East Siberia ; apparently in Kamtschatka, 

 Ussuria, the valleys of the Central Amur, and the Argun rivers. On passage and in winter 

 it occurs in Japan, China, irregularly to North-east India and Burma, and also from the 

 Waigiu Islands near New Guinea. One record from England (Herts, 1901). [F. c. B. j.] 



BUFFLEHEADED - DUCK [Cldngula albeola (Linnaeus) ; Nyrdca albtola (Linnaeus). 

 Spirit-duck, dipper]. 



1. Description. Resembles the goldeneye, but may be distinguished by the fact 

 that the nostrils are placed nearer to the base of the bill than to the tip, while the colora- 

 tion is no less distinct. Length 14 in. [355 mm.]. The male differs from the male 

 goldeneye in being much smaller, in having a large, oval, white patch behind and rather 

 below the eye, instead of in front thereof, and in the absence of the longitudinal white band 

 formed by the scapulars. Further, the fore-part of the head has a metallic green gloss, the 

 rest purple : in the goldeneye the whole head is glossed with purple. The female differs 

 from the female goldeneye in having an oval white patch behind the eye. [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. A North American species, breeding north to the Yukon River in 

 Alaska, the lower Mackenzie River, Great Slave Lake, and north-east from Manitoba to 

 Hudson's Bay. It is said to nest in Ontario, and possibly in New Brunswick (?). Southward 

 it breeds in N. Dakota, Montana, and N. Ohio. It winters from the Aleutian Isles and 

 British Columbia south to Lower California, Mexico, and Florida, and has occurred casually 

 in Cuba, the Bermudas, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Greenland (twice), at least twice in 

 England (Norfolk and Yorks), and also on the Hawaiian Isles. [F. c. R. J.] 



HARLEQUIN - DUCK [Histrionicus histridnicus (Linnaeus) ; Cosmonetta hiatrionica (Lin- 

 naeus). French, canard histrion ; German, Kragen-Ente]. 



1. Description. The male can readily be distinguished by its general slate-blue colour, 

 enlivened with patches of chesnut and bars of white. The sexes differ in coloration. Length 

 17 in. [432 mm.]. The slate-blue colour of the male varies in intensity, being almost black 

 on the crown and back. There is a large patch of chesnut on the flanks, and a loop of 



