NYKOCA BAERI. 223 



(37) NYROCA BAERI. 

 THE EASTERN WHITE-EYE. 



Fuligula baeri, Finn, P. A. S. B. 1896, p. 61; id. Jour. A. S. B. ]ivi, 



pt. 2, p. b2o ; id. Indian Ducks, Asian, 1899. 

 Nyroca . baeri, Salvadori, Cat. B. J/, xxvii, p. 344; Blanford, Fauna B. I. 



iv, p. 461 ; Oates, Game-B. ii, p. 328. 



Descri_ption. Adult male. — A large spot at the angle of the chin pure white ; 

 the remainder of the head aud neck black, glossed with green ; breast rufous- 

 chestnut, that colour merging into the black of the head, but sharply defined 

 from the white of the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; the feathers of the vent 

 brownisb at the base ; flanks rufous-brown ; upper parts dark brown ; the 

 scapulars and interscapulars very finely covered with narrow bars of lighter 

 brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts brownish-black, a few of the feathers at the 

 side finely vermiculated with white ; tail brown ; wing-coverts dark brown, the 

 outer secondaries white with a broad subterminal black band ; quills brown, the 

 inner webs of the primaries greyish-brown ; the inner secondaries very dark 

 brown, in good specimens very narrowly margined black on nearly the whole of 

 the outer web and glossed with olive-green. 



Bill dull slate-blue, the basal third, tip, and nail black ; irides white ; legs aud 

 feet greyish-lead, joints and webs darker. 



" Eeet lead-grey, with the joints darker ; irides white or pale yellow." 

 {Salvadori.) 



Length 18 to 20 inches, wing 8'2 to 9'5 ; bill from point of forehead 1'75, 

 from extreme base 2'2, from gape 2-1, breadth at base '73 and at broadest part 

 •86 ; tarsus 1*4. 



Adult female. — Like the male, but the head is blackish-browu unglossed 

 with green and has the anterior part rufous ; the spot on the chin appears to be 

 smaller, and the throat and lower part of the neck are more rufescent and paler ; 

 the whole tone of the bird is duller, and the definition between the breast and 

 abdomen is blurred and indistinct, while the abdomen itself appears to be a 

 sullied, not pure white. 



Irides grey or brown, perhaps white in very old females ; bill and feet as in 

 the male, but still duller. 



" The eyes of the female are brown, rarely grey or wiiitish." {Finn.) 



Length about 16 inches, wing about 7"5,tail 2'3; bill from point of forehead 

 1*7, from extreme base 1'98, from gape 1"9, in breadth '61, and at widest part 

 'So ; tarsus about 1-4. 



" The female is smaller than the male, especially about the bill ; but females 

 in this species appear to vary in size much more than the males, and, as in the 

 Tufted Pochard, some are much duller aud less like the males than others." 

 {Finn.) 



