NYROCA POCHARD. NATATORES FULIGULA. 353 



has been more frequently met with amongst the London 

 poulterers, probably from an increased activity in the regu- 

 lar shooters of wild fowl, in their search after curious birds ; 

 and hardly a season now passes without producing speci- 

 mens of this and other rare species of the Anatidce, &c. It 

 is a native of the same countries as the Red-breasted Pochard, 

 inhabiting the eastern parts of Europe and Northern Asia, 

 our island appearing to be the limit of its winter migration to 

 the westward. Fresh- water lakes and rivers are its usual ha- 

 bitats, it being rarely found on the sea-coast. Its food consists Food, 

 of insects, aquatic plants, seeds, &c. which are principally ob- 

 tained by diving. It breeds in the higher latitudes of nor- Nest > &c - 

 them Asia, in the reeds, &c. that fringe the edge of their 

 lakes and rivers, making a nest of dried vegetable matter, 

 and laying from eight to ten greenish- white eggs. The for- 

 mation of the trachea, according to the descriptions of MON- 

 TAGU, TEMMINCK, and others, bears a strong resemblance 

 to that of the Red-breasted Pochard, the tube being con- 

 tracted a little below the glottis, and again near to the lower 

 larynx, and the middle part swelling out to a much larger 

 diameter. The tympanum differs, however, from that of the 

 two preceding species, in having the side next to the trachea 

 almost entirely osseous ; the other side being covered by a 

 membrane intersected or supported by a bony arch. 



PLATE 63. Fig. . Represents the Adult Male, of the natu- 

 ral size. 



Head, and upper part of the neck, deep orange-coloured General 

 brown. Collar (about three quarters of an inch broad) tion. 

 blackish-brown. Lower part of the neck and breast Male. 

 orange-brown. Belly white. Flanks yellowish-brown, 

 with a tinge of grey. Abdomen and vent blackish- 

 grey, finely mottled with yellowish-white. Back and 

 scapulars blackish-brown, finely powdered with pale 

 reddish-brown ; the tertials glossed with olive-green. 

 Speculum and outer webs of the secondary quills white. 

 VOL. IT. z 



