490 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
than the upper parts, giving them the appearance of 
a lighter grey; vent white; under tail-coverts black ; 
legs, toes and webs orange. In summer, from about 
the middle of July to the middle of September, the 
Mallard loses his beautiful plumage and puts on a 
much more sombre dress: the glossy green of the 
head and neck become a sort of greyish brown, and 
the finely pencilled feathers of the back and flanks 
change to a sort of mottled brown, something like 
those of the female, as does the vinous-red of the 
breast; the two curled feathers of the tail also are 
lost. Yarrell quotes a full account of this change of 
plumage in the Mallard from Waterton, who fixes 
the time of the commencement of the change as early 
as the 24th of May, and says that it lasts till about 
the 10th of October. I do not myself remember 
ever to have seen the change commence before the 
end of June or beginning of July, and now (the 28th 
of September) they have all assumed their proper 
colour again; not so, however, the FPintail and 
Wigeon, neither of which have yet recovered their 
plumage.* In the female the beak is darker than in 
the male, greenish black on the ridge and orange- 
brown on the edges and towards the point—the nail 
is black; the irides are brown; the head and back of 
the neck are pale yeliowish brown, streaked with 
* This change of plumage is common both to the Rouen 
Duck and to the Call Duck. 
