LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 41 



in September. All this takes place while the old birds are molting 

 their wings and are flightless. Both old and young birds are able to 

 fly by October and are then ready to start on their migrations. 

 Mr. Millais (1913) describes the juvenal plumage, as follows: 



In first plumage, in September, the young male has the crown dark brown; 

 the back of the neck is grayish-brown till it meets the mantle, which, with 

 the wings, back, and tail, are black, with a dark-gray suffusion. A dark 

 band of grayish-black also crosses the upper part of the chest, and these 

 feathers, as well as the gray and spotted ones on the sides of the chest, are 

 edged with light sandy-brown ; the scapulars blackish-brown, edged with light 

 sandy-brown ; flanks gray, tinged with sandy-brown ; thighs gray ; breast, 

 belly, and vent white. In many specimens only the center tail feathers are 

 black, the rest being brown, edged with white, whilst some have a few sandy 

 edged feathers on the upper tail coverts. Round the eye and lores whitish- 

 gray ; cheeks, throat, and chin brown-gray. In many specimens the secon- 

 daries are brown, and the breast spotted with brownish-gray. In this month 

 the young male is no larger than the female, but by the end of October it has 

 grown to nearly the full size of the adult male. By the end of this month, 

 and during November, new feathers are rapidly coming in, and the immature 

 feathers of the head are being replaced by others resembling those of the adult. 



From this time on during the winter and spring there is a slow 

 but steady progress toward maturity of plumage by a practically 

 continuous molt. The crown, throat, and neck become gradually 

 whiter, the brownish-black cheek patches develop and brownish- 

 black feathers appear in the chest ; the gray face begins to show, the 

 back becomes blacker and the grayish-white scapulars and flank 

 feathers appear. By the end of March the young male begins to 

 look like the winter adult, but the colors are not so pure or so intense. 

 In April the molt into the first nuptial plumage begins, in which the 

 yoimg bird can be distinguished from the adult by the faded and 

 worn wings, the imperfect and mottled appearance of the breast, and 

 the absence of the long tail feathers. During August and Septem- 

 ber a complete molt occurs, at which the wings and tail are renewed, 

 the long tail feathers are acquired and the adult winter plumage is 

 assumed ; by the end of November, at the latest, this plumage is com- 

 plete and the young bird may be said to be adult at seventeen months 

 of age. 



The seasonal changes of plumage in the adult male oldsquaw are 

 unique, striking, and very interesting; it is one of the few ducks in 

 the world to assume a distinctlj^ nuptial plumage. The molt into 

 this plumage begins in April and in the oldest and most vigorous 

 birds it is completed in May; but in the younger birds and less 

 vigorous individuals, the molt is prolonged into the summer and is 

 often incomplete. Some birds acquire the full nuptial dress (in 

 which the face is " smoky gray," with a white space around and be- 

 hind the eye, the feathers of the upper back and scapulars are broadly 



