148 ANSEEES NTEOCA 



Nyrooa erythrophthalma, Salvadori, Ibis, 1896, p. 99 ; Woockuard 



Bros. Natal B. p. 211 (1899). 

 Nyrooa capensis, Beichenow, Vbg. Afr. i, p. 108 (1900). 

 Aythya erythrophthalma, Oates, Cat. B. Eggs ii, p. 181 (1902) ; Sharpe, 



Ibis, 1904, p. 18 [Deelfontein]. 



Description. Adult male. — General colour a rich dark brown, 

 almost black on the head and nape ; the centre of the back, scapulars 

 and upper wing-coverts very finely mottled with whitish ; wings 

 like the back, but the bases of the primaries and of the secondaries 

 white, the latter forming a speculum bounded posteriorly by the 

 brown tips, which form a band in the closed wing ; sides of the 

 head and neck a rich chestnut brown ; a small but distinct triangular 

 spot of white on the chin between the rami of the lower jaw, rest 

 of the lower surface dark brown, becoming nearly black on the 

 lower neck and chest, and more fulvous on the abdomen. 



Fig. 44. — Head. of Nyroca erythrophilialma, d 



X 1 



Iris orange yellow to red ; bill leaden blue with black tip ; legs 

 blackish. 



Length 20-0; wing 875 ; tail 2-0; tarsus 1'25 ; culmen 1-75. 



The female is a good deal lighter in colour and has no freckling, 

 the sides of the head, neck and throat white, except for a round 

 patch below the eye, which is brown ; the rest of the lower surface 

 from the chest to the under tail-coverts is mottled white and fulvous 

 brown, the fulvous more or less in narrow transverse bands. 



Iris brown, bill leaden, feet black ; size about the same ; wing 

 8-5. 



Distribution. — This Pochard is found throughout East and South 

 .\frica from Abyssinia and Shoa to Cape Colony and extending north 



