458 



it feeds largely on insects, worms, frogs, and fish ; and, despite 

 Jerdon's high opinion of it as a bird for the table, my own 

 experience coincides with Hume's it is sometimes excellent but 

 more often, in India, rank and inferior. The call-note is said to 

 be a deep grating "Jcurr." No one has yet found this Pochard 

 breeding within our limits. 



Genus NYROCA, Fleming, 1822. 



The five species of Pochard, besides Netta rujina, that occur in 

 India may either be kept in one gnus or divided amongst two, 

 three, or four genera on account of differences in the form of the 

 bill and the presence or absence of a crest. The first plan is more 

 convenient. All have the bill of moderate length, slightly raised 

 at the base, and either equally broad throughout or slightly 

 broader near the tip, with the culmen concave and the border of 

 the feathered base above the gape convex ; the nostril is situated 

 ;about one-third the length of the bill from the base, and the 

 lamellae are short and distant, less prominent than in Netta. Wings 

 rather short, pointed ; tail cuneate, of 14 feathers. Hind toe 

 broadly lobed. 



The breeding habits of all the species are very similar. 



Key to the Species. 

 a. Males in ordinary plumage. 



a'. Back and scapulars distinctly barred or 

 vermiculated. 



a'. Head and neck chestnut N. ferina, p. 458. 



b". Head and neck black, glossed green .... N. marila, p. 462. 

 b'. Back and scapulars merely speckled, 

 c". No crest. 



a 3 . Head and neck dull chestnut N.ferruginea, p. 460. 



b*. Head and neck black A 7 , baeri, p. 461. 



d". A. nuchal crest ; head and neck black. . . . N.fuliyula, p. 463. 



b. Females. 

 .<?'. No crest. 



e". No white on forehead or lores. 



c 3 . No white speculum on secondaries .... N.ferina, p. 458. 

 d 3 . A white speculum on secondaries. 



a 4 . Head and neck rufous-brown N.ferruginea, p. 460. 



b 1 . Head and neck blackish N.' baeri, p. 461. 



f". Forehead and lores white -A T . marila, p. 462. 



d. A crest N.fuliyula, p. 463. 



1600. Nyroca ferina. The Pochard or Dun-bird. 



Anas ferina, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 203 (1766). 



Nyroca ferina, Fkming, Phil. Zool. ii, p. 260 (1822) ; Salvadori, 



Cat. E. M. xxvii, p. 335. 

 Aythya ferina, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 812 ; 



Stuliczka, J.A.S. B. xli, pt. 2, p. 255 ; Lloyd, Ibis, 1873, p. 420 ; 



Hume, S. F. i, p. 264 ; Adam, ibid. p. 402 ; ii, p. 341 j Butler, 



S. F. iv, p. 30; v, p. 234 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 232. 



