POCHAED. 201 



Mr. J. H. Gurney thus described the plumage of 

 Mr. Rising's specimen, and, as the tints appear to be 

 very evanescent, it may be desirable to reproduce his 

 remarks : " When newly killed it was as beautiful a bird 

 as I have often seen ; the beak was of a most splendid 

 vermilion-red colour, the nail of the beak being also red, 

 but paler than the rest. The colouring of the beak 

 began to fade soon after the bird was mounted, as also 

 did another beauty which was apparent when the bird 

 was first killed, and which consisted of a wonderfully 

 elegant tinge of rose colour, which pervaded the whole 

 of the white part of the plumage, especially the two 

 large patches on the back above the shoulders. The 

 colouring of the other parts of the bird (which appears 

 to be of a permanent character) agrees very well with 

 the usual descriptions of this species in the adult male 

 plumage." (" Zoologist," vol. ii., p. 576.) 



It is unnecessary to enter in detail into the distribu- 

 tion of this species ; and of its habits here, nothing, of 

 course, is known except that the 1867 bird was shot 

 in company with pochards, as previously mentioned, 

 whereas Mr. Rising's specimen, which was killed early in 

 the morning, was quite alone and very tame. It must be 

 regarded as a rare winter visitor, as all those killed, 

 with the singular exception of Hunt's 1818 bird, which 

 was killed in July, have occurred at that season ; and of 

 five instances in which the sex has been recorded three 

 were males and two females. The specimen now in the 

 Norwich Museum was purchased for that institution at 

 Mr. Rising's sale. 



FULIGULA FERINA (Linnseus). 

 POCHARD.* 



The pochard, or " dun bird," visits Norfolk regularly 

 towards the end of autumn in considerable numbers, 



By the gunners on the Norfolk coast the scaup duck is known 

 as the pochard, and the pochard as the "red-headed pochard," 

 "porker," or "pocker," as it is variously pronounced. 



2 c 



