LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 77 



to a point above. The " spectacles " also are conspicuous. The 

 colors on the upper parts shade from " warm sepia " on the crown 

 and rump to " snuff brown" on the mantle, hind neck, and flanks; 

 the dark color of the crown extends down over the lores and auric- 

 ulars ; a circular space around the eye is " wood brown," surrounded 

 by a broken circle of " cinnamon buff," forming the " spectacles" : 

 the lower cheeks, chin, and throat are pale " cinnamon buff," shad- 

 ing off to dull grayish buff on the breast and belly, into which the 

 darker colors of the upper parts blend. 



In the Juvenal plumage the sexes are much alike, but they are 

 quite different from the adult female. In the young male the head 

 and neck are much like those of the adult female, with the " spec- 

 tacles " only indicated ; but the upper parts are darker, the feathers 

 of the back and scapulars being " warm sepia " or " bister," edged 

 with " clay color " or " cinnamon buff " ; the under parts are uni- 

 formly, but rather faintly, barred with dusky, not strongly barred, 

 as in the adult female; the wings are brownish black, with brown- 

 ish buffy edgings on the greater and lesser coverts, secondaries and 

 tertials. In the young female the juvenal plumage is much the 

 same, except that the under parts are spotted rather than barred; 

 the wings are like those of the adult female, but more brownish, with 

 more buffy-brown edging in the coverts. 



Specimens are lacking to show the progress toward maturity dur- 

 ing the first winter, but probably it is similar to what takes place 

 in the young conmaon eider. The young male assumes during the 

 following summer a first eclipse plumage, quite different from that 

 of the adult male. In this plumage the " spectacles," lower cheeks, 

 and throat are j)ale buff fading off to grayish buff on the neck, 

 faintly mottled with dusky; the rest of the head and neck are "hair 

 brown " or " mouse gray," becoming " fuscous " on the crown and 

 occiput and mottled with huflj shades on the sides of the head; the 

 back, scapulars, and flanks are " hair brown " or " deep mouse gray " ; 

 the wings are like the juvenal wings until they are molted in August 

 or September; and the under parts are as in the juvenal plumage. 



I have not been able- to trace the immature plumages beyond this 

 stage, but probably the second winter plumage, as in other eiders, 

 is not fuU}^ adult, but very much like it. The perfection of the adult 

 plumage is probably acquired after the second eclipse, when the 

 young bird is over 2 years old. 



The adult male apparently has but one complete molt each sum- 

 mer, at which most, if not all, of the contour plumage is molted 

 twice, involving a nearly complete eclipse plumage. The adult 

 eclipse, and probably the second eclipse, can easily be distinguished 

 from the first eclipse by the wings, which are molted but once, and 



