THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
FERRUGINOUS DUCK OR WESTERN 
WHITE-EYED POCHARD. 
NYROCA NYROCA 
(Plate XXX, Fig. 3) 
Fuligula leucophthalma, Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 368 (1837). 
Nyroca ferruginea, Dresser, Birds Europe, vi, p. 581, pi. 438 (1872). 
Fuligula nyroca, Hume & Marshall, Game Birds Ind., iii, p. 263, pi. 35 (1880) ; Lilford, 
Col. Fig. Brit. Birds, part xiv, pi. (1890) ; Saunders, III. Man. Brit. Birds, p. 445 (1899). 
Nyroca africana, Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 345 (1895). 
DULT male. — Head, neck and upper breast rich chestnut; 
a white spot on the chin; collar round the base of the neck 
/ and middle of the mantle dark sooty -brown, shading into 
/ brownish -black on the upper parts, the mantle and scapu- 
i lars faintly vermiculated with rufous ; lower breast and 
upper part of the belly and under tail -coverts white; 
base of the belly and thighs smoky-brown, indistinctly vermiculated with 
whitish; sides and flanks reddish-brown and dun-colour; wing-coverts 
and long inner secondary quills brownish -black, the latter glossed with 
dull oily-green on the outer web, and edged with black; inner secondary 
and primary quills white, tipped with dark brown; long outer primaries, 
with the outer webs and tips, brownish -black, and the rest of the inner web 
white ; axillaries white, slightly vermiculated with brown at the extremity; 
tail brownish -black. Iris white; bill, legs, etc., dark bluish-black. Total 
length about 16 inches; bill 1*5 inch; wing 7*3 inches; tail 2*3 inches; 
tarsus 1 2 inch. 
Adult female . — Differs from the male in having the head, neck, and 
upper breast dull reddish-brown, a white spot on the chin; upperparts 
blackish -brown, without vermiculations, almost black on the rump, the 
feathers of the mantle and scapulars with pale rufous -buff margins; the 
upper breast-feathers tipped with whitish, and not clearly defined from 
the lower breast, which, with the abdomen and under tail-coverts, are 
less pure white and mottled with rufous where the bases of the feathers 
are visible; lower part of the abdomen and thighs light reddish-brown; sides 
and flanks dun-brown; wings and tail as in the male. Iris white; bill 
horn-black; legs and toes French grey, mottled with dusky at the joints 
and on the webs. Total length about 15 5 inches; bill 1 *6 inch; wing 7*2 
inches; tail 2 ‘2 inches; tarsus 1 3 inch. 
368 
