1899.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, 167 



THE SUMMER MOLTING PLUMAGE OF CERTAIN DUCKS. 

 BY WITMER STONE. 



Of all our ducks I believe there is but one, the Old Squaw, in 

 which the adult male has a distinct nuptial and winter plumage. 



That is to say the old males of all our other ducks remain in the 

 same plumage from the time they arrive in the autumn until their 

 departure northward in spring. 



Judging by what occurs in other birds we should say since 

 these ducks show no tendency toward a change of plumage when 

 they leave us in spring, that they must retain the same feathers 

 that covered them during the winter, until the end of the breeding 

 season, when a complete molt occurs and a new dress exactly like 

 the one just shed, is assumed. In other words the plumage re- 

 mains the same at all seasons, except for such changes as are 

 effected by wear, tear and bleaching, and there is one annual molt 

 at the close of the breeding season. 



That this is not the case, however, has long been known, and a 

 peculiar summer plumage of the adult males of several of our 

 ducks has been described. 



This has been variously termed " summer plumage," " molting 

 plumage," " plumage after the breeding season," etc., but its- 

 true character seems not to be generally understood. 



The first record of this peculiar summer plumage of male ducks, 

 with which I am acquainted, occurs in the supplement to Mon- 

 tagu's Ornithological Dictionary, 1813, under head of the Pintail 

 (^Dafila acuta). 



He here describes the molting of some domesticated individuals 

 and states : " In the month of June or beginning of July these 

 birds commenced their change of plumage, and by degrees after 

 making a singular, mottled appearance, especially on the part of 

 the body which was white before, became by the first week in 

 August, entirely of a brown color. The beautiful bronze on the 

 head, the white streak on each side of the neck, and all the white 



