384 ANATID^. 



and in proof of this he gives the dates of the hatching of 

 broods in fourteen 5'ears from 1839 to 1861 inclusive (P. Z. S. 

 1880, p. 515). 



The male Pintails undergo that remarkable summer 

 change in their plumage which renders them for a time like 

 their females in appearance. This alteration commences in 

 July : partly effected by some new feathers, and partly by a 

 change in the colour of many of the old feathers. At first 

 one or more brown spots appear in the white surface on the 

 front of the neck ; these spots increase in number rapidly, 

 till the whole head, neck, breast, and under surface have 

 become brown ; the scapulars, wing-coverts, and tertials, 

 undergo, by degrees, the same change from grey to brown. 

 The Author has seen a single white spot remaining on the 

 breast as late as the 4th of August ; but generally by that 

 time the males can only be distinguished from females of 

 the same species by their larger size, duller colour, and 

 pale blue beak, whereas in the female the bill is dark 

 brown. The Author has seen a male Pintail, confined in 

 the hutch of a dealer throughout the summer, that did not 

 exhibit any change at all. The following is Montagu's de- 

 scription of a male Pintail after he had thrown off the 

 male plumage, taken on the 19th of August : — " Bill as 

 usual ; top of the head, and from thence down the back 

 of the neck, dusky and pale ferruginous, intermixed in 

 minute streaks, paler on the forehead ; sides of the head 

 and throat brown, with minute dusky specks tinged with 

 ferruginous ; the front and sides of the neck brown, with 

 dusky-black spots, which are minute on the upper part, 

 becoming larger by degrees downwards, where they are also 

 more distinct ; the breast and belly very pale brown, with 

 more distant dusky spots ; the back and scapulars dusky- 

 black, with pale margins, each feather having a transverse 

 bar of white near the tip ; the longer scapulars are only 

 margined with rufous-white, and some are powdered with 

 white ; the rump, like the back, but these feathers gradually 

 lose the white bar as they approach the tail, so that the tail- 

 coverts are only margined with white ; the feathers on the 



