224 INDIAN DUCKS 



" At the annual autuuni moult the males again assume with tlieir 

 new plumage the colours peculiar to their sex, but the assumption is 

 gradual. White spots first appear among the brown feathers on the 

 front of the neck ; by the end of the second week in October the 

 front of the neck and breast is mottled with browir and white ; at 

 the end of the third week in Octoljer a few brown spots only remain 

 on the white." 



Both my birds were obtained in the third week of October and 

 are in the plumage ascribed by Yarrell to that of the second week ; 

 the heads are entirely like those of the female. 



