578 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



though its wings are somewhat small for the size of the bird ; but they are 

 moved with great rapidity and considerable noise. The alarm-note of the 

 Pochard is a harsh kr, kr, kr, very similar to that of the Tufted Duck, but 

 its call-note is a low whistle. 



The adult male Pochard in nuptial dress has a rich chestnut head and 

 upper neck ; a small white spot on the chin ; a glossy back, upper mantle, 

 lower neck, and breast ; dull black rump, upper tail-coverts, and under 

 tail-coverts ; and white axillaries and under wing-coverts. The mantle, 

 scapulars, wing-coverts, belly, and flanks are lavender-white, finely ver- 

 miculated with black. The quills are pale slate-grey and the tail-feathers 

 are dusky slate-grey. Bill black to a little beyond the nostrils and at the 

 tip, intermediate space slate-grey ; legs and feet slate-grey, nearly black on 

 the webs ; irides orange-yellow. 



The adult female closely resembles the adult male in the general distri- 

 bution of its colours ; but the chestnut and black on the head, neck, upper 

 breast, and upper mantle is replaced by buffish brown, shading into nearly 

 white on the throat. The vermiculations on the back and scapulars are 

 browner and less distinct, and absent altogether from the wing-coverts ; 

 the black on the rump and upper and under tail-coverts is replaced by 

 brown ; the general colour of the breast and belly is browner and the ver- 

 miculations are confined to the flanks. 



Young in first plumage closely resemble adult females ; but the feathers 

 of the back and scapulars are brown with pale edges, and the vermiculations 

 are absent from the flanks. Young males may be distinguished from 

 females by the redder brown of the head and neck and by having the 

 feathers of the upper back and the scapulars indistinctly powdered with 

 white. Males in first nuptial plumage differ from adults in having the 

 chestnut of the head and neck slightly paler and the black of the breast 

 and upper back replaced by dark brown. Males in moulting-plumage are 

 intermediate in colour between adult females and males in first nuptial 

 dress. Young in down are described by Naumann as dark brown on the 

 upper parts, shading into rusty brown on the head, and into yellowish white 

 on the vent. 



