280 NYEOCA. 



Genus NYROCA. 

 Differs from Netta in having serrations on upper mandible less prominent. 

 The bill is narrower and longer than in Fuligula. Tail cuneate, of fourteen 

 feathers. Hind toe broadly lobed. 



316. Nyroca farina. The Eed-headbd Pochard or Dun-Bied. 



F&rina=o{ or belonging to wild animals, /?r(E; perhaps in reference to its "game " flavour. 

 Cf. German Tafel-ErUe, "Table-Duok." 



Lalsir, N.W.P.; Lalmuriya, Bengal; Cheoon, Bengal; Thadingnam, Manipur; 

 Rutubah, Sind; Surkh-sir, Cabul. 



$ 18" to 18J" ; 2 to 2i lbs. ? 17" to 18"; IJ to 2J lbs. Legs bluish. Bill 

 blue, tip and base black. Head and neck chestnut, without purple gloss. Back, 

 breast, scapulars, and sides white, with black lines. Upper and under tail-coverts 

 black. — Female : The same, with breast red-brown, mottled white. No white on 

 forehead or lores. No white speculum. From Iceland to Japan, wintering in 

 S. Europe, N. Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, India, Burma, China, and Japan. 

 Eggs (2-3 X 1-7) greenish buff. (J. 968. B. 1605.) See illustration, p. 279. 



Also N. americana. Similar to N. ferina, but the head and neck are glossed purple, 

 abdomen is white, not vermioulated, and the bill is pale blue with only the tip black. N. America. 



N. vallisneria. 20" to 22". The Canvas-baok.. Similar to N. ferina, but bill is entirely 

 greenish black and lower breast and abdomen white. N. America. The Canvas-back derives 

 its delicious flavour from the fresh- water plant, a species of vallisneria, commonly called "wild 

 celery," which grows in great profusion at the head of Chesapeake Bay. " It is not generally 

 known that the breeding places of the Canvas- back are in Canada, Greenland, and Iceland, 

 whither they repair in April or May, when the weather becomes too hot for a thickly feathered 

 bird to be able to bear it. The forests in Canada which surround the lakes, pools, and bayous, 

 on the fringes of which the birds lay their eggs, are being rapidly levelled by the axe of the 

 lumberman, and the eggs are picked up and either sold or used by the human intruders upon 

 what was once a vast solitude. Writing upon this subject an American expert says : 

 • Thousands upon thousands of ducks' eggs are marketed every year in the Dominion, and by 

 these exhausting methods, rather than by the numbers actually shot, the Ducks have been 

 greatly diminished. This condition of aftairs seems to be beyond remedy, since a state of the 

 American Union cannot make a treaty with a foreign power, and the Washington Government 

 is not likely to interfere on behalf of a Maryland industry, or to provide such compensation 

 as Canada might ask if it was proposed to her to protect the Ducks in their native habitat. 

 So the prospect is that fifty years will see the extermination of the finest wild-fowl in the world 

 and one of the most prized delicacies of the table.'" — Daily Telegraph, 11.4.99. 



317. Nsrroca baerii. The Eastern White-eyed Pochard. 



$ 18". Legs lead-grey. Bill bluish, base and nail black. Head and upper 

 neck black, glossed green. Primaries, basal part light grey. Otherwise as in 

 N. ferruginea. — Female: Chestnut patch on lores. E. Siberia, China, and Japan. 

 Common in Bengal. (B. 1607.) 



318. Nyroca ferruginea. The Ferruginous or White-eyed Pochard. 



Nyroca, Latinised from the Russian name, Ootna nyroTc, 



Karchiya, iV. fr.P.; \^\i\gr\, Bengal ; ^\irn\i, Sind ; WaX&c, Nepal; Chiki, Yarkand. 



i 16" to 17"; 1^ to IJ lbs. $ 15" to 16|"; IJ lbs. Legs grey. Bill bluish. 

 Head and breast red. A white spot on chin. Collar black. Abdomen white. — 

 Female: Brown, edged paler. Mediterranean basin, C. and E. Europe, and 

 S.W. Asia as far east as Kashmir, visiting India and Burma in winter. Not 

 recorded from S. India or Ceylon. Nine to fourteen eggs (2-1 x 1-49), pale 

 brown. (J. 969. B. 1606.) See illustration, p. 281. 



