40 BULI.ETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL, MUSEUM. 



Plumages. — The downy young mallard, when first hatched, is ricldy 

 colored; the upper parts, the crown and back, are "sepia" or "clove 

 brown," darkest on the crown; the under j)arts, including the sides 

 of the head and a broad superciliary stripe, are "napthalene yellow" 

 more or less clouded, especially on the cheeks with "honey yellow" 

 or intermediate shades; there is a loral and post ocuUir stripe and an 

 auricular spot of " clove brown " ' ; four yellowish spots, two on the scap- 

 ulars and two on the rum]), relieve the color of the back. As the 

 young birds increase in size the colors of the upper ])arts become 

 duller and lighter and the yellows of the under ])arts fade out and 

 are replaced by more buffy shades. 



The Juvenal plumage comes in first on the scapulars and flanks at 

 an age of about 3 weeks, then a week later, on the rumj) and breast 

 and finally on the head and neck, when the bird is nearly 2 months 

 old; the tail begins to a])pear with the first plumage, but the last of 

 the down has disappeared from the neck before the wings are even 

 started; these are not completed until after the young bird is fully 

 grown or about 10 weeks old. In this ju venal ])lumage the sexes are 

 practically indistinguishable, though the male is slightly larger and 

 has a larger bill. In this plumage the young birds resemble the adult 

 female to a certain extent, but they are darker and more brownish, 

 especially on the chest and back; the latter is "hazel" or even as 

 bright as "burnt sienna" in 3'oung birds. 



From this time on the sexes differentiate rapidly in their steady 

 progress towards maturity; this is accom])lished during the next two 

 months by a continuous molt Avhich is, perhaps, accompanied by 

 some sympathetic change of color in the growing feather. The result 

 is that the young birds have assumed b}^ December, or when about 

 6 months old, a plumage which is practicall}^ the same as that of the 

 adults, though the highest development of the plumage is not acquired 

 until the following year. 



The annual molts and plumages of the adult consist of a double 

 molt of all the contour feathers, into the eclii)se plumage in the sum- 

 mer and out of it again in the fall; the flight feathers are molted but 

 once, while the drake is in the eclipse plumage, in August. Thus 

 instead of a nu])tial i)lumage, worn in the spring and summer, and a 

 winter plumage, worn in the fall and winter, we have a full plumage, 

 worn in the winter and s])ring, and an eclipse, or a concealing, plum- 

 age, v^^orn for only a m()nth in the summer, but with much time con- 

 sumed in the two transitional molts. The same thing takes place, 

 to a greater or a lesser extent, with nearly all of the ducks; the eclipse 

 plumage is much more com[)lete in the surface-feeding ducks than in 

 the others, and it is more strikingly illustrated in the mallard than 

 in any other species. It seems remarkable, indeed, that such a 

 brilliant and conspicuous j)lumage, as that of the mallard drake, 



