THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
RED-CRESTED POCHARD 
NETTA RUFINA 
(Plate XXX, Fig. 1) 
Fuligula rufina, Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 369 (1837) ; Dresser, Birds Europe, vi, p. 559, 
pi. 435 (1873) ; Hume & Marshall, Game Birds Ind., iii, p. 253, pi. 34 (1880) ; Lilford, Col. 
Fig. Brit. Birds, part x, pi. (1889). 
Netta rufina, Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mtis., xxvii, p. 328 (1895); Saunders, III. Man. 
Brit. Birds, p. 441 (1899). 
DULT male.-— Forehead, sides of the head, throat, and 
fore-part of the upper neck glossy vinaceous chestnut; 
/ crown and occiput rufous-buff, the feathers much 
f lengthened, and forming a conspicuous crest; nape, 
i lower neck and chest black, shading into blackish - 
.JL Ikk. brown on the breast and belly, a large white patch on 
each side of the belly bordered above with vermiculated black and white 
feathers; upper feathers of the sides and flanks light dun -brown; a partly 
concealed white patch on each side of the mantle; back and scapulars 
light earthy -brown, darker on the lower back and rump; marginal wing- 
coverts white; median and greater wing-coverts and long inner secondary 
quills grey; shorter outer secondary and inner primary quills white, 
with a subterminal or terminal blackish band ; long outer primary quills 
brownish -black, v^^ith the greater part of the inner web white towards 
the margin (this pattern of the primaries being very remarkable among 
ducks); under wing-coverts and axillaries white; tail greyish -brown, 
the outer feathers paler. Iris reddish-brown; bill crimson-scarlet, the 
nail paler; legs and toes scarlet, the joints and membranes blackish. 
Total length about 21 inches; bill 1’9 inch; wing 10*0 inches; tail 3'5 
inches; tarsus 1 *8 inch. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage (July). — Very similar to the female, but re- 
taining the plumage on the wings of the adult male. 
Adult female.— -GeneY 2 L\ colour light earthy-brown above, greyish-brown 
below; upper part of the head, including the ocular region, brown; sides 
of the head and throat greyish -white; lower back dark sooty -brown; 
feathers of the chest and rest of the underparts pale brown, with greyish - 
white tips, producing a mottled appearance; under tail-coverts white; 
upper feathers of the sides and flanks light brown ; wings much like those 
364 
