Baer's pochard Baer's pochard Baer's pochard ("Aythya baeri") is a diving duck found in eastern Asia. It breeds in southeast Russia and northeast China, migrating in winter to southern China, Vietnam, Japan, and India. The name commemorates the Estonian naturalist Karl Ernst von Baer. At , it is similar in size and stance to its close relative, the ferruginous duck ("A. nyroca"), although the coloration of the drakes (males) is entirely different. Baer's pochard males are similar to those of the greater scaup ("A. marila"), but have a dark back and upper flanks; the white lower flanks and belly are conspicuous. The
Featherless bird-riddle Featherless bird-riddle The Featherless bird-riddle is an international riddle type about a snowflake. In the nineteenth century, it attracted considerable scholarly attention because it was seen as a possible reflex of ancient Germanic riddling, arising from magical incantations. But although the language of the riddle is reminiscent of European charms, later work, particularly by Antti Aarne, showed that it occurred widely throughout Europe─particularly central Europe─and that it is therefore an international riddle type. Archer Taylor concluded that 'the equating of a snowflake to a bird and the sun to a maiden without hands is an elementary idea that cannot yield