462 



ANATID^. 



Eleven young birds of the season of 1844, were received 

 at the Gardens from Scotland on the 24th of August : they 

 were then about eleven weeks old, of a dark brown colour, 

 and without distinction in plumage as to sex. About a 

 month after their arrival the male birds began to get much 

 darker in colour, almost black, and by the middle of October 

 a few white feathers began to appear on the back. The 

 white feathers did not appear on the breast till the middle 

 of November. This change seemed to go gradually on till 

 June, when the breeding plumage was observed to be about 

 half perfect. They began to lose their white plumage about 

 the same time as the oldest male, but not so much of it, as 

 a number of the white feathers remained on the back and 

 breast. They commenced moulting about the same time 

 as the old bird, and the white plumage came on in them 

 much the same as on him. No perceptible change takes 

 place in the plumage of the females. 



A pure white female Eider is in the collection of Mr. F. 

 Bond. 



The downy nestling is of a nearly uniform umber-brown 

 above, and greyish-brown below ; the throat is brownish- 

 white, and there is a well-defined streak of the same colour, 

 from the base of the bill, above each eye ; bill dark olive, 

 with a yellowish-brown nail. 



The windpipe of the male Eider measures nine inches in 

 length, the tube uniform in size throughout ; the bony 

 labyrinth and inferior tubes as represented below. 



