THE SHOVELER. 



158 



ducks, acquires that strange assimilation of plumage 

 to the sombre garb of the duck, at the close of the 

 breeding season, so happily termed by Water ton in the 

 case of the mallard, the state of " eclipse." The cause 

 of this remarkable change of plumage is still unac- 

 counted for, and the time of its commencement, com- 

 pletion, and abandonment, varies considerably in dif- 

 ferent individuals. One male, that I examined carefully 

 through a telescope on Stanford mere, showed scarcely 

 any trace of this change coming on the 8th of June, but 

 another, seen at Thompson,* the following day, had a very 

 perceptible tinge of brown pervading the glossy green 

 feathers of the head. Several common mallards on the 

 same waters were equally variable, one or two of them 

 being apparently in perfect plumage. The following table, 



Species under 

 examination. 



Hybrid between "i 

 a Mallard and > 

 Pintail J 



Gad wall 



Mallard 



Garganey 



Widgeon 



Carolina Wood ) 

 Duck j 



Pintail 



Shoveller 



Teal 



Time of be- 

 ginning to 

 lose the full 

 male plu- 

 mage. 



May 16 



June 2 

 „ 6 

 „ 16 

 „ 17 

 „ 17 



20 



30 



2 



July 



Time of hav- 

 ing completed 

 th e process of 

 losing full 

 male plumage. 



Time of begin- 

 ing to reassume 

 the full male 

 plumage. 



July 



August 4 



„ 20 



July 23 



18 

 August 10 

 July 27 



August 8 



4 



Not observed 

 December 28 

 Septembr. 19 



August 8 



November 8 



10 



October 1 



Time of having 

 completed the re- 

 assumption of full 

 male plumage. 



October 22 



5 

 5 



February 18 

 November 10 



October 1 



January 9 

 February 18 

 November 3 



the result of the daily observation of certain pinioned 

 birds on a pond at Easton, near Norwich, was published in 

 the " Zoologist " for 1851 (p. 3116) by Mr. J. H. Gurney, 

 from notes supplied him by his gardener, Mr. Annes (a 

 very reliable authority), and though relating to fowl in 



* Though commonly so called the proper name of this locality, 

 I am informed, is Tomston. 

 W 



