COMMON POCHARD 147 



dark brown shading into a slightly mottled pale-gray abdomen and flanks. Lower abdomen darker 

 and under tail-coverts blackish brown. Outer wing-coverts grayish brown without vermiculations; 

 speculum plain gray; primaries dark brown; under wing silvery white. 



Iris brown to hazel-brown. Bill like the male's but colors not so brilliant. Legs and feet dull 

 slate-color to horn-color; webs black. 



Wing 201-212 mm; bill 43-47; tarsus 35-40. 



Weight 1 pound, 5 ounces to 2 pounds, 4 ounces (0.59-1.02 kilograms). 



Young Female in First (Juvenal) Plumage: Resembles adult female but is more brownish and 

 mottled on the abdomen, lacking the silvery-gray appearance of old birds. The mantle and 

 scapulars have a more uniform appearance and lack the light edges of later life. The tail-feathers 

 will also be found to be blunt at their tips. 



Young Male in First Plumage: Like the female at corresponding age but the head is redder. In 

 September or early October a few black feathers appear upon the upper breast or around the lower 

 neck, at the same time that vermiculated feathers appear among the scapulars. Early in the au- 

 tumn the head begins to assume a dull-red tone, and it may be almost as red as in adult long before 

 the mantle and breast have become black. The tail-feathers in these young males will be found 

 bleached out or worn at the tips. Adult plumage is not entirely perfect during the first spring but 

 all essential changes are complete by late January. 



Male in Eclipse Plumage: As given by Millais the male assumes a plumage which can never be 

 confused with that of the female. The scapulars and lower mantle are gray with some vermiculations, 

 but the colors are darker than those of the spring. The black regions change to dark gray, each 

 feather edged with yellowish white or russet. The crown becomes dark brown and the cheeks and 

 remainder of the head and neck red-brown. The flanks are mixed with vermiculated gray feathers 

 and dark-gray feathers with sandy edges. The rump remains dull black. The bill at this season is 

 dull bluish black and the hides have lost the brilliant red color. 



Young in Down: Like our American Red-head, yellow-brown on crown and upper parts with the 

 light wing-, scapular-, and rump-patches poorly defined. Sides of head uniform sulphur yellow with- 

 out markings. Lower surface like face and throat and without darker area across breast. Millais 

 says that in life the upper mandible is dark brown becoming a little lighter toward the nail which is 

 dark flesh-color. The lower mandible is light flesh-color. The feet and legs are partly black and 

 partly olive-yellow. 



Remarks: Mr. N. Kuroda (Dobutsugaku Zasshi, vol. 32, p. 243-248, 1920) has recently separated 

 the Pochard of Japan on the basis of a deep-red eye in the male and a shorter wing-length in both 

 sexes. Eye-color is certainly a very unreliable character, as it varies from orange to orange-red and 

 even brilliant red in European specimens, depending on the age of the bird and the time of year. It 

 has even been noted that the eye changes color while the bird is being handled, due perhaps to fright 

 (Stevenson and Southwell, 1890). Millais (1913) and other recent writers have noticed that the eye 

 is a particularly brilliant ruby red during the period of sexual excitement. 



The wing-length of five Japanese males given by Kuroda is only 10 mm. more than the measure- 

 ments given in Witherby et al. (1919-22), Handbook of British Birds, these last measurements being 

 based on large series of European birds. Hartert (1920a) gives the measurement of the wing as 224 

 mm. at the most, but the great curve in the wings of diving ducks makes it necessary to use exactly 

 the same method of measuring if results are to be compared. It may turn out that East Asiatic 

 Pochards are a slightly smaller race, but the material at my disposal is too small to allow a decision. 



