AUSTRALIAN WHITE-EYED DUCK 



NYROCA AUSTRALIS Eyton 

 (Plate 61) 

 Synonymy 

 Nyroca australis Eyton (ex Gould MS.), Monograph Anatidae, p. 160, 1838. 

 Fuligula australis Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Anseres, p. 30, 1866. 

 Aythya australis G. R. Gray, Genera Birds, vol. 3, p. 87, 1871. 

 Anas australis Giebel, Thesaurus Ornith., vol. 1, p. 345, 1872. 

 Ilyonetta australis Heine and Reichenow, Nomencl. Mus. Heineanum Ornith., 



p. 347, 1890. 

 Nyroca baeri Rothschild and Hartert (nee Radde), Novitates Zool., vol. 1, p. 684, 



1894. 

 Nyroca nyroca australis Mathews, Novitates Zool., vol. 18, p. 239, 1912. 

 Nyroca nyroca dampieri Mathews, Austral Avian Record, vol. 1, p. 87, 1912. 



Vernacular Names 



English: Australian White-eyed Duck, White-winged Duck, White-wings, Hard- 

 head, Wlgeon. 



German: Australische Moorente. 



French: Fuligule australe. 



Aborigines of Australia: Bubbuloo, Punkery (South Australia); Erroodoo (West 

 Australia); Buel-bun-bun-loot (Port Essington); Garrut (Victoria). 



Maori: Karakahia. 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male : Head and neck dark chestnut brown. Mantle, scapulars, back, rump, upper tail-coverts 

 and tail dark rich brown. Breast chestnut-colored, but lighter than the head. Abdomen white an- 

 teriorly, shading into brown on the lower part. Sides and flanks brown, under tail-coverts white. 

 Outer wing-coverts olive brown, speculum white, framed posteriorly by a wide black and then by a 

 narrow white bar at the extreme tips of the secondaries. Primaries dark brown on the outer webs and 

 tips, white on the inner web. Tertials dark brown. Under wing white except the marginal coverts 

 which are brown and white. Axillars white. 



Iris white. Bill black with a broad blue-gray band at the tip; nail black. Legs and feet gray to 

 light gray with the joints and membranes darker. 



Wing 225 mm.; bill 47; tarsus 41. 



Weight 2 pounds (0.90 kilograms) (Berney, 1907) . 



Adult Female: Similar to the male but slightly smaller and with very little chestnut on the head and 

 neck, which are brown. 



