Alfred Newton

“ The Pochard in full plumage is a very handsome bird, with a coppery-red head, on the sides of which sparkle the ruby irides of his eyes, relieved by the greyish-blue of the basal half of his broad bill, and the deep black of his breast, while his back and flanks appear of a light grey, being really of a dull white closely barred by fine undulating black lines. ”

“ Generally classed with the Fuligulinae is the small group known as the Eiders, which differ from them in several respects: the bulb at the base of the trachea in the male, so largely developed in the members of the genus Fuligula, is here much smaller and wholly of bone; the males take a much longer time, two or even three years, to attain their full plumage, and some of the feathers on the head, when that plumage is completed, are always stiff, glistening and of a peculiar pale-green colour. ”

“ The well-known Eider, S. mollissima, is the largest of this group, and, beautiful as it is, is excelled in beauty by the King-Duck, S. spectabilis, and the little S. stelleri. A most interesting form generally, but obviously in error, placed among them, is the Logger-head, Racehorse or Steamer-Duck, Micropterus (or more probably Tachyeres) cinereus of Chile, the Falkland Islands and Straits of Magellan—nearly as large as a tame goose, and subject to the, so far as known, unique peculiarity of losing its power of flight after reaching maturity. ”