388 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family ANATIDiE. G-enus Nyboca. 



Subfamily FuLlGULlN^. 



WHITE=EYED POCHARD. 



NYEOCA AFEICANA {Gmelin). 



Anas nyroca, Giild. Nov. Oomm. Petrop. xiv. p. 403 (1769). 



Puligula nyroca (Giild.), Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 113 (1852) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. 



iii. p. 571 (1885) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iv. p. 418 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. 



B. pt. xiv. (1890) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 167 (1894) ; 



Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 44, pi. 14 (1896). 

 Nyroca ferruginea(Gmel.), Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 581, pi. 438 (1872). 

 Nyroca africana (Gmel.), Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 345 (1895). 

 Nyroca nyroca (Giild.), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 9 (1896). 



Qeographical distribution British .• The White-eyed Pochard is 



a rare and irregular straggler to our area on spring and autumn migration, most 

 frequently met with in the eastern counties of England. Norfolk heads the list 

 with about a score examples ; others have been obtained in Suffolk, Cambridge- 

 shire, Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire. Northumberland, Cumberland, Lan- 

 cashire and Dorset can each claim an example ; Devon can now claim two 

 examples ; Eadnorshire another ; and Oxfordshire no less than four. There are 

 three occurrences on record for Scotland, and six for Ireland, Foreign : 

 Southern Palaearctic region ; parts of Oriental region in winter. This Pochard is 

 of only accidental occurrence in the Canaries, Denmark, and the Baltic Provinces. 

 It breeds throughout Europe in suitable localities as far north as Holland, 

 Germany, and in Eussia up to Moscow, Kazan, and Ekaterinburg. It is found in 

 summer only in the northern portions of this area, but is a resident in the basin 

 of the Mediterranean (although it is not known to breed in Egypt), Black and 

 Caspian Seas, its numbers being increased in winter. In Asia, Finsch is the 

 only authority for the occurrence of this species in Siberia, where he states 

 positively that he saw it as far north as the Arctic Circle, in the valley of the 

 Obb. It breeds, however, throughout Turkestan and Cashmere, and most 

 probably in Mongolia. Many of these Asiatic birds pass through Afghanistan on 

 migration and winter in India and Northern Burmah. 



Allied forms. — Nyroca baeri an inhabitant of Eastern Asia from the 

 valley of the Obb to Kamtschatka, southwards to China and Japan. The Eastern 

 representative of the White-eyed Pochard having the head and upper neck black 

 shot with green. Eleven examples of this Eastern Pochard were recently obtained 

 (February, 1897) in the Calcutta Bazaar. 



