EIDER DUCK. 461 



elongated, drooping ; rump black ; tail-feathers dull black ; 

 chin and upper part of neck in front white ; lower part of 

 neck pale buff; breast, bell}', sides, and all the under 

 surface black, except a white patch on the flank; legs, 

 toes, and their membranes dusky-green. The whole length 

 is twenty-five inches ; from the point of the wing to the end 

 of the longest quill-feather eleven inches. 



Young males of the Eider are at first like the adult 

 female, but when changing in their first winter the head 

 and neck are mottled with two shades of dark brown, with 

 a few white feathers appearing through in different parts ; 

 lower portion of neck, and upper part of the back, mottled 

 black and white ; wing-coverts and inner secondaries becom- 

 ing white ; the rest of the plumage black ; legs and bill 

 greenish-grey. The pure white colour is assumed by slow 

 degrees, and the appearance of adult birds is not attained 

 till the third winter. 



The female is a pale rufous-brown, varied with darker 

 marks : similar to but less ruddy than the female of the 

 King Duck hereafter figured ; the quill and tail-feathers dull 

 black. 



The following notes in reference to the periodical changes 

 of the plumage in old and young Eider Ducks, were sup- 

 plied to the Author by James Hunt, then head-keeper at the 

 Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park : — 



August 21st, 1845. An old male began to lose its white 

 or breeding plumage about the 7th of June, and by the 

 20th of July it was almost black : a few white feathers being 

 left on the back, which did not disappear. This change 

 seemed to be an alteration in colour, as very few feathers 

 were shed during the change. He remained in this state of 

 plumage till about the 4th of August, when he commenced 

 moulting, and about the 14th, the white feathers on the 

 breast and back began to reappear. On the 21st he was 

 full of new feathers and getting the white plumage fast. 



A male bird of the year 1842, received from Norway in 

 October 1844, did not acquire his perfect breeding plumage 

 this last summer (1845). 



