NYROCA FERIXA. 217 



(36) NYROCA FERINA. 

 THE POCHAED or DUN-BIED. 



Aythya ferina, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 812 ; Hume, Sir. FeatJi. i, p. 264 ; 



Adams, ibid. p. 409 ; ibid, ii, p. 341 ; Butler, ibid, iv, p. 30 ; v, p. 234 ; 



Ball, ibid, vii, p. 232. 

 Fuligula ferina, Davids. 4' ^Vend. Sir. Featli. vii, p. 93; Hume, ibid. p. 496; 



id. Cat. no. 96S ; Hume c|- Mar. Game-B. iii, p. 247 ; Legge, B. of Cey. 



p. 1090 ; Butler, Sir. Featli. ix, p. 438 ; Beid, ibid, x, p. 84 ; Davids. 



ibid. p. 326 ; Taylor, ibid. p. 531 ; Barnes, B. of Bom. p. 412 ; Hume, 



Str. Featli. xi, p. 346. 

 Nyroca ferina, Salvadori, Cat. B. 21. xxvii, p. 335 ; Blanford, Fauna B. I. 



iv, p. 458 ; Oates, Game-B. ii, p. 309. 



Description. Adult male. — Whole head and neck rich deep chestnut, changing 

 rather abruptly into the black of the upper back and breast ; rump and upper 

 tail-coverts dull black ; remainder of upper plumage extremely pale clear grey, 

 very finely vermiculated with black bars ; wing-coverts dark grey, more or less 

 verraiculated with white ; primaries dark grej^, edged outwardly and tipped 

 blackish ; secondaries forming a dull grey speculum, the feathers narrowly 

 tipped Avhitish and divided from the inner secondaries by narrow black borders 

 to U\o or three of these feathers ; lower breast blackish, the feathers more or 

 less fringed white ; remainder of lower plumage white or very pale grey, sparsely 

 stippled with black, the stipplings more numerous towards the vent and flanks ; 

 under tail-coverts dull black ; tail dull greyish -brown, tipped paler. 



Occasionally the male has a pure vrhite spot at the apex of the chin, a skin 

 lent me by the Bombay Natural History Society- having the spot more highly 

 developed than in any other specimen I have ever seen. 



Irides yellow or reddish-yellow ; base and end of bill black, intermediate 

 portions varying from pale clear plumbeous-blue to rather dull dark plumbeous ; 

 the legs vary through the same shades of grey or plumbeous-blue, darker and 

 blackish on the joints and webs. 



" The irides vary ; they are generally orange-yellow, but I have noted them 

 brown in one apparently adult female and lac-red in an old male. 



" The legs and feet are pale bluish or slaty-grey, or dull leaden, often darker 

 on the joints, and with the webs black or nearly so. The bills are black and 

 bluish-grey or leaden, in varying proportions. In some the whole bill is black, 

 with only a leaden-coloured crescentic bar on the upper mandible towards the 

 tip. In others only the tip and the basal portion of the upper mandible to a 

 little beyond the nostrils are black, and the whole intervening portion of the 

 upper mandible is leaden-blue; and between these two extremes the breadth of 

 the blue band or bar varies. 



" Length 18 to 20-5 inches, expanse 29-4 to 32-2, wing 8-5 to 9-5, tail from 

 vent 2-35 to 3-2, tarsus 1-4 to 1-5, bill from gape 2-15 to 2-29. AVeight 1 lb. 

 13 ozs. to 2 lbs. 5 ozs." {Hume.) 



