LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WELD FOWL. 173 



immense ehnib of eeablite, quite 4 feet in height and as many in diameter. Tiie 

 neat in all respects resembled the last, and contained 17 eggs of two distinct types, 

 and probably the production of different females. The eggs of one set were wliite 

 and were all singularly malformed. The normal eggs are of clear pea green and a 

 trifle smaller than those of the pochard. The down in the nest closely resembles 

 that of the eider duck in tint. Both nests were about 6 yards from the water, ai^ 

 the birds wriggled off at our feet. 



Eggs. — Mr. Millais (1913) says that the usual number of eggs is 

 from 7 to 10, but that 14, in one case 17, eggs have been found in a 

 nest. The — 



eggs are decidedly lighter and more thin shelled than those of the common 

 pochard. When fresh, the eggs are a clear green stone-color with a gloss, but lose 

 their bright tints and gloss after being blown, then becoming a dull grayish olive or 

 greenish gray. The texture is smooth, fine, and clear, but somewhat fragile for a 

 duck's egg. In form they are a broad oval with both ends the same size. 



Rev. F. C. R. Jourdain furnishes the measurements of 74 eggs, 

 which average 58.1 by 41.8 milhmeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 61 by 42, 56.5 by 43.5, and 53.5 by 39.6 miUimeters. 



Plumages. — Mr. Millais (1913) describes the downy young as: 



Upper parts, dull olive gray; imder parts, buff or yellowish gray; a buff spot on 

 either shoulder; a yellowish-gray stripe passes over each eye, and in front of and 

 behind the eye runs a dark stripe which divides behind the eye; irides, dark brown; 

 bill reddish brown, with the nail white; feet, ash-gray with a green tinge; webs and 

 toes narrowly edged with yellowish white. 



Of the young male he says : 



Somewhat similar to the female, only darker and with an indication of a crest. 

 The center of the feathers of the under parts are brown instead of gray, and the back 

 and front of the breast is a much darker brown. The young male and female are 

 easily recognized by the usual immature feathers on the lower breast, vent, and tail 

 coverts, and frayed tail. The principal molt commences in November with a few 

 black feathers on the lower parts and scapulars, and proceeds rapidly in February 

 and March. 



By April the young male has gained the whole of the adult plumage, although it 

 is not nearly so rich or bright as that of a 2-year-old male. By the beginning of May 

 the only sign of immaturity is a dark brown line as broad as a pencil on the upper 

 surface of the bill, but this mark disappears as soon as the young male molts into full 

 eclipse dress at the end of May, when the bird may be said to be adult at 10 months. 

 Young males bred by Mr, St. Quintin in June, 1910, were just losing the last sign of 

 immaturity on May 1, 1911, when I visited Scampston. The irides are brown or 

 reddish brown, becoming red in March; the feet and legs, at first olivaceous orange, 

 also become orange red in spring. 



According to his colored plate, the male has a well-marked ecHpse 

 plumage, of which he writes : 



If we do not accept the summer plumage of the long-tailed duck as an eclipse 

 drees for reasons to be explained later, the red-crested pochard and the gadwall are 

 the earliest species to change from spring into the eclipse dress. A male in my 

 possession began to dress the first brownish-gray feathers on the flank as early as May 

 10 and another in the Scampston collection was in full molt on May 20. The 

 eclipse dress of the male is very like the plumage of the female, but they may be at 



