SOUTHERN POCHARD 221 



of the breast, but with very obscure light-colored transverse barring. Sides and flanks rich, dark 

 brown. Outer wing-coverts black, somewhat freckled like the scapulars. Secondaries with a white 

 patch at their bases and the outer edge of each feather with a distinct black line. Ends of secondaries 

 black to a depth of 22.5 mm. Primaries black on the outer web and at the tip, and brown on the inner 

 web. Tertials black. Under surface of wing dark brown. 



Iris bright orange or even crimson, fading to yellow soon after death. My notes on Uganda 

 specimens in the breeding season, give color as carmine. Bill blue, but not so bright and light as 

 in the Greater Scaup and a little mottled along the edges and culmen with dusky edge of the culmen 

 color of whitish putty, but a little yellow-buff in tint (L. A. Fuertes, in litt.). Legs and feet leaden 

 gray to pale olive, darker on the joints and posterior tarsus; webs dark. 



Wing 210-221 mm.; bill 42-45; tarsus 37-41. 



Weight of males in southwestern Uganda in April, 1 pound, 12 ounces to 2 pounds, 4 ounces 

 (0.71 to 1.02 kilograms). 



Note: Full-plumaged, freshly moulted males in the black, glossy state are scarce both in birds from 

 South America and from Africa. Out of twenty-seven males mostly from Africa in the British Mu- 

 seum only three are what might be called perfect (black). All the rest are dirty brown both above 

 and below, or are black only on the upper side. Lord William Percy thinks that in all those individ- 

 uals that moult in the dry season the plumage immediately fades. Hence we must have old birds that 

 have moulted during the rains to get the "all-black" specimens. From South America I have only 

 seen five or six males that are "perfect." In Uganda in 1924, 1 shot several old males, one of which is 

 nearly black all over. I saw others that seemed to be even blacker, so that I do not doubt that African 

 specimens get just as dark as South American ones. 



Adult Female: Pileum very dark brown with the upper surface of neck brown. Sides of head red- 

 dish brown with an irregular white area at the base of the culmen, behind the eyes and on the chin, 

 throat and lower neck. Mantle, scapulars, back, rump and tail very uniform dark brown. Upper 

 breast dark brown; flanks and sides bright rusty brown. Abdomen much lighter than breast, having a 

 silvery-white appearance, darker posteriorly. Wing almost as in the male. 



Iris dark chocolate-color. Bill dull lead-color with a bright blue band at the tip; nail black. Legs 

 and feet as in the male. 



Wing 200-212 mm.; bill 42-45; tarsus 37-40. 



Weight in Uganda, in spring of 1924, 1 pound, 14 ounces to 2 pounds, 3 ounces (0.85 to 0.99 kilo- 

 grams). The females seem to be nearly as heavy as the males. 



Female in First (Juvenal) Plumage: Closely resembles the adult female. The whitish face- 

 patches, especially the throat-patch and post-orbital white streak, are less well developed. 



Male in First (Juvenal) Plumage: At first almost exactly like the adult female, with the lower 

 parts light-colored and the white face-pattern present. The mantle and scapulars are, however, 

 somewhat darker and richer in tone and the light-colored freckling is present on the mantle and 

 scapulars. Later on, black feathers begin to appear on the occiput, face and throat, and from this 

 time on the sexes are very easily distinguished. 



Moults are evidently very irregular and there is no indication of a definite eclipse plumage. The 

 iris probably does not become red until the bird is sexually mature. 



Young in Down : Not seen. Sjostedt (1910) gives the appearance of young in down and early feather 

 stages, but the description does not mean much for purposes of comparison. 



