154 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



a semi-domesticated state is still of considerable in- 

 terest as showing the relative dates of commencement 

 and abandonment of this remarkable change of plumage 

 in the various species named, the opportunity of making 

 such observations, also, rarely occurring. In this in- 

 stance it will be seen that whilst the common mallard 

 commenced its cha,nge by the 6th of June, and was him- 

 self again by the 5tli of October, the drake shoveler 

 did not change till the 30th of June, and, like its com- 

 panion the garganey, had not re-assumed its proper dress 

 till the 18tli of February ; the latest of all the species 

 under examination. Mr. Alfred Newton also tells me 

 he had an old cock shoveler whose custom it was 

 not to be in full breeding dress till after Christmas. 

 Judging, however, from my own notes respecting male 

 shovelers seen in our markets, or in the bird-stuflfers' 

 hands, in autumn and winter, I come to the conclusion 

 that in a wild state the full nuptial dress is re-assumed 

 towards the close of November or early in the following 

 month. Thus, in 1867, I find an adult male entered as 

 "still in change," on the 12th of October; two adult 

 males as " perfect " on the 23rd and 25th of November, 

 1865 ; cne as "still showing some light feathers on the 

 head and neck, and a few crescent-shaped feathers on 

 the upper part of the breast on each side," on December 

 5th, 1867 ; and another as " perfect" in January, 1868. 

 These, I believe, so far as T was able to judge at the 

 time, were all old males, but it is sometimes difficult and 

 requires a little consideration to discriminate between 

 adult males recovering from their " eclipse," and young 

 males, of the year, assuming their breeding plumage for 

 the first time. 



One of the two survivors of Mr. Youell's brood, 

 hatched out in confinement in the summer of 1818, 

 proved to be a male, and having " lived till it was ten 

 months old, had then attained, in a considerable degree. 



