JSTHYIA 617 



Frequents fresh-water lakes and marshes, and is extremely 

 shy and wary ; its call-note is harsh, not unlike the croak of a 

 Crow, and its food consists of water-plants, aquatic insects, 

 small shellfish, and fish or frog spawn. It breeds near fresh- 

 water, placing its nest on the flags or ground, constructing it of 

 dead stems of rushes or leaves lined with down, and in May 

 deposits 7 to 9, occasionally 10 eggs which are greenish gray in 

 colour and measure about 2*28 by T60. 



857. POCHARD. 

 -flETHYIA FERINA. 



jEthyia ferina (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 203 (1766) ; (Naum.), xiii. 

 p. 21, Taf. 308 ; (Hewitson), ii. p. 433, pi. cxvii. fig. 2 ; Gould, 

 B. of R. v. pi. 367 ; (id.), B. of Gt. Brit. v. pi. 20 ; (Dresser), vi. 

 p. 551, pi. 434 ; David and Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 506 ; (Salvadori), 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvii. p. 335 ; (Tacz.), F. 0. Sib. O. p. 1162 ; 

 (Blanf.), F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iv. p. 458 ; (Saimders), p. 443 ; 

 (Lilford), vii. p. 107, pi. 44 ; (Seebohm), B. Jap. E. p. 254. 



Milouin, French ; Tarrantana, Portug. ; Cabezon, Span. ; 

 Moriglione, Ital. ; Tafelente, German ; Tafeleend, Dutch ; Taffel- 

 and, Dan. and Norweg. : Brunand, Swed. ; PunasotJca, Finn. ; 

 Rijegolovka, Krasnogolowi-Nyrok, Russ. ; Aurdr~nar, Hindu ; 

 Hoshihajiro, Jap. 



ad. (England). Head and upper neck coppery red; lower neck, 

 upper back, upper breast, rump, upper and under tail-coverts black ; 

 upper parts otherwise white yermiculated with black ; quills brown tipped 

 with blackish ; tail blackish brown tinged with grey ; speculum greyish ; 

 under parts white indistinctly vermiculated with blackish ; bill black with 

 a broad band of dull light blue ; legs plumbeous ; iris bright yellow. 

 Culmen 2*2, wing 8 '4, tail 2 '8, tarsus 1*45 inch. The female has the head 

 and neck dull reddish brown, the base of the bill, chin, and upper throat 

 dirty white ; sides of head marked with dirty white ; back dark brown 

 with a few greyish white feather-tips and vermiculated with blackish ; 

 breast dark reddish brown with a few whitish margins ; abdomen white, 

 the lower part and under tail-coverts brownish grey. In the late summer 

 the male resembles the female, but the head and neck are redder, the back 

 more marked with white and more clearly vermiculated. 



Hob. Europe generally, north to Central Sweden; rare in 

 Iceland ; the British Islands, South Europe, and North Africa in 

 winter ; Canaries ; Asia east to Japan, north to Southern Siberia, 

 south to Northern India in winter ; in America it is replaced 

 by a very closely allied form JE. americana, Bp. 



