150 NYROCA FERINA 



The Pochard is a fairly common winter bird in the coastal regions of Spain and Portugal. Irby 

 (1883) states that he saw a flock at Santander on December 14, while in Portugal it is common at 

 Murtoza and Esmoriz (Tait, 1896) and occurs also at Montemar and Lagoa de Albofeira (de Seabra, 

 1910). In Spain small numbers winter on the marismas below Seville (Irby, 1875; A. Chapman, 

 1888), while on the east it is quite abundant at Malaga, Valencia and Gerona (Arevalo y Baca, 1887). 

 It has also been recorded from Majorca (Munn, 1921). 



The Pochard has been taken at one time or another on many of the Atlantic islands. In the Ponta 

 Delgada Museum, Azores, there is a pair taken on San Miguel (Hartert and Ogilvie-Grant, 1905). 

 Atlantic A specimen was taken on November 28, 1903, on Madeira (E. Schmitz, 1907) and it 



Islands h as occurred at least twice on the Canaries (Meade-Waldo, 1893; Koenig, 1890). The 



southernmost record is probably that of a specimen taken December 2, 1898, on Sao Nicolao Island in 

 Northwest the Cape Verde group (Salvadori, 1899). On the mainland of northwestern Africa this 

 Africa duck winters not uncommonly in Morocco (Irby, 1875; J. I. S. Whitaker, 1905) and 



apparently quite abundantly in parts of Algeria, such as Oran (Millais, 1913), El Baheira and Zana 

 (Salvin, 1859), Tuggurt (Tristram, 1860) and Lake Fetzara (Rothschild and Hartert, 1912). In 

 Tunis it is less common, though it has been recorded from Bizerta, Sfax and Gabes (J. I. S. Whitaker, 

 1905; Millet-Horsin, 1912; Bede, 1915). 



On the European side of the Mediterranean the Pochard winters commonly in Sardinia (Salvadori, 

 1865; Brooke, 1873) and in Corsica (Jourdain, 1912), though it appears to be quite rare in Malta 

 Southern (Despott, 1917). In Sicily and throughout Italy it is an abundant species during the 

 Europe co id sea son (Giglioli, 1886, 1889-91; Arrigoni degli Oddi, 1904) and many are found on 



the lakes of northern Switzerland (Fatio, 1904). No doubt some of these birds pass the winter in the 

 Succession States of the Austrian Monarchy, but there is no evidence to substantiate this, beyond 

 Kolombatovic's (1903) statement that the species is common in winter in Dalmatia and Reiser and 

 von Fuhrer's (1896) testimony that it winters in Montenegro. It is an abundant cold-weather visitor 

 in the Ionian Islands (Powys, 1860) and in Greece (Lindermayer, 1860; and others). Chasen (1921) 

 found it common in the Struma valley in winter, though in Bulgaria it seems to be rare (Alleon, 

 1886). Presumably some winter in Rumania and on the Black Sea littoral of Russia, for Kennedy 

 (1921) found it fairly common at Novorossisk, near the Straits of Kertsch, and it is an abundant 

 bird at Tiflis and Lenkoran in the Caucasus (Radde, 1884). 



In Egypt the Pochard winters in large numbers in the Delta, along the Nile and on suitable lakes, 

 extending south through Nubia and rarely to the Sudan, two specimens having been taken near 

 Egypt Khartum (Shelley, 1872; von Heuglin, 1873; Cecil, 1904; Whymper, 1909; Nicoll, 1919; 



Palestine W. L. Sclater and Mackworth-Praed, 1920). Tristram (1884) describes it as the com- 

 Mesopo- monest duck in winter in Palestine, whence it has also been reported by Hart (1891) 

 tarma an( j Meinertzhagen (1920). In Cyprus it is fairly common (Bucknill, 1910). Weigold 



(1913) states that incredibly large numbers winter in northern Asia Minor and that some were seen 

 on the Meander plain. Flora Russell (1912) found the species very common near Sardis, and Dresser 

 (1891) has recorded it from Erzerum. In Mesopotamia it was common in January (Meinertzhagen, 

 1914), though in February and March only a few were to be seen (T. R. L., 1918). Stantschinsky 



(1914) considered it the commonest diving duck in eastern Transcaucasia, while Radde (1886) and 

 Radde and Walter (1889) as well as Zarudny (1911) state that the species winters on the southern and 

 . . southeastern Caspian littoral. From the interior there are records of individuals seen 



near Askhabad in December and January (Stolzmann, 1893) and small numbers seen 

 late in February on the Tedshen River, Transcaspia (Loudon, 1910). In Persia it seems to be rare 

 excepting in the northwestern parts. It was found at Seistan in December (Baker, 1919). It occurs 

 in southern Baluchistan (Zarudny, 1911) and is very common at Quetta (Meinertzhagen, 1920). 

 O. B. St. John (1889) speaks of it as rare in southern Afghanistan, yet at Kohat and Kurran it was 

 very common according to C. H. T. Whitehead (1909). Even farther north, in western Turkestan 

 (Lansdell, 1885; Severtzoff, 1883) and on the Issyk-kul, the Pochard has been found wintering. 



