142 



British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



found it invariably very inferior to tte land-feeding Ducks. Their flavour and 

 quality depends entirely on the special character of their food. Thus Mr. Robert 

 Gray ("Birds of the West of Scotland") says that on the west coast of Scotland 

 the Pochard is a useful bird for the table, but on the east coast is in poor request. 



The male Pochard in full plumage is a remarkably handsome bird ; the head 

 and neck chestnut-red, contrasting with the ruby-coloured irides ; the breast and 

 fore-part of back brownish-black; the upper parts minutely undulated with dark 

 lines on a whitish ground; tail-coverts blackish-brown; the speculum is grey; 

 bill black with a blue centre ; the wings and tail greyish-brown. They vary much 

 in size, the adult female is considerably less than the male, with the head and 

 neck reddish-brown; throat inclined to- white; the vermiculations on the upper 

 parts are brown and not black. 



Bones of the Pochard in the British Museum were obtained from superficial 

 deposits at Barton, in Norfolk. Mr. Lydekker points out that all members of the 

 suhiam^y FuligulincB have the upper part of the anterior surface of shaft of the tibia 

 much flattened. The form of humerus is also different from Anatince. 



Family— ANA TID^. 



Red-Crested Pochard. 



Fuligula riifina, PallAS. 



THIS very beautiful Duck is a south and south-eastern European species, also 

 in some parts of North Africa, and a considerable extent of Asia. It is 

 common to the western Mediterranean basin, but rare in the eastern. The range 

 therefore is comparatively a restricted one. 



In Mr. Harting's " Handbook of British Birds " there are sixteen occurrences 

 of the Red-crested Pochard recorded between i8iS and 1869, this number would 



