DUCKS. 351 



and South America, although there are three Australian species, and another in 

 Africa. 



The pochards and their congeners are characterised by the beak being not 

 longer than the head, and having its base somewhat elevated, and its broad tip 

 depressed ; while the tail-feathers are short, moderately stiff, rounded at the tips, and 

 more than half concealed by the coverts. The wings are rather short and pointed, and 

 the metatarsus is characterised by its lateral compression. The red-crested pochard 

 {F. rufina) differs from the other members of the genus in the head of the male 

 being rufous and furnished with a full, soft, rounded, and bushy crest ; the beak 

 being vermilion, the front of the neck and breast rich dark brown, and the wing- 

 speculum white. The female is devoid of a crest, and has the head and neck 

 yellowish white speckled with black, and no white speculum. This species inhabits 

 Southern and Eastern Europe (occasionally ranging northwards to the British 

 Islands), Northern Africa, and India. On the other hand, the widely distributed 

 scaup-duck (F. nrnarila), of Europe, Asia, and the whole of North America, may be 

 taken as the representative of a second group (the genus Fulix of some) in which 

 the adult males have no crest, but the whole of the head and neck of a uniform 

 black colour; the beak being about equal in length to the second toe, with its 

 nail differing from that of the red-crested pochard by being small and narrow, 

 in place of large and broad. In the male the head, neck, and breast are purplish 

 black, the back and scapulars white with black vermiculations, and the wing- 

 speculum and under-parts white. A third group (jEihyia of some) is represented 

 by the common pochard (F. ferina) of Europe and Northern Asia, and the red- 

 headed (F. americana) and canvas-backed duck (F. vallisneria) of North America, 

 as well as other forms. In all these the beak is rather longer than the inner toe, 

 and the head and neck of the adult males are red. Finally, we have a fourth group 

 (Nyroca) represented by the white-eyed pochard (F. nyroca) of Europe and Asia, 

 and the Australian white-eye (F. australis), which take their name from the white 

 ring formed by the iris of the eye. In the adult male of the European species the 

 head, neck, and upper breast are chestnut-brown, the wing-speculum white, and 

 the beak leaden-blue ; while in the female the head and neck are pale chestnut. 



During its sojourn in the British Islands from October to March or April, the 

 common pochard is generally met with on the coast, although in other districts, 

 and especially India, it is an inland bird at the same season. A bad walker, this 

 duck is essentially a diver and swimmer, associating in India in immense flocks on 

 open sheets of water of medium depth. These birds feed chiefly by night, but 

 in undisturbed districts they may be seen diving at all hours of the day in search 

 of the stems and roots of water-plants, which constitute their chief food. The 

 same habits characterise the American canvas-back, which is met with in countless 

 numbers on the Chesapeake, where it dives for vallisneria grass, locally known as 

 celery. Both these ducks are most excellent table-birds ; and while in India the 

 pochard is taken by hundreds in nets placed in the water, the canvas-back is 

 usually shot in America, one device being to attract the birds within range by 

 going out at night in a boat furnished with a powerful lamp and reflector in the 

 bows. Such pochards as remain to breed in the British Isles usually nest in May 

 and the first half of June ; the nest being constructed of rushes, grass, or flags, 



