THE SHOVELEE. 



153 



ducks, acquires that strange assimilation of plumage 

 to the sombre garb of the duck, at the close of the 

 breeding season, so happily termed by Waterton in the 

 case of the mallard, the state of " eclipse." The cause 

 of this remarkable change of plumage is still unac- 

 counted fbr, and the time of its commencement, com- 

 pletion, and abandonment, varies considerably in dif- 

 ferent individuals. One male, that I examined carefully 

 through a telescope on Stanford mere, showed scarcely 

 any trace of this change coming on the 8th of June, but 

 another, seen at Thompson,^ the following day, had a very 

 perceptible tinge of brown pervading the glossy green 

 feathers of the head. Several common mallards on the 

 same waters were equally variable, one or two of them 

 being apparently in perfect plumage. The followdng table. 



Species under 

 examiuation. 



Hybrid between ") 

 a Mallard and > 

 Pintail J 



Gadwall 



Mallard 



Garganey 



Widgeon 



Carolina Wood ) 

 Duck j 



Pintail 



Shoveller 



Teal 



Time of be- 

 ginning to 

 lose the full 

 male plu- 

 mage. 



May 

 June 



July 



16 



2 



6 



16 



17 



17 



20 



30 



2 



Time of begin- 



Timeof hav- 

 ingcompleted;jj^ to reassume 

 the process of j^l full male 

 losing full , e. 



male plumage. ^ ° 



July 



August 8 



August 4 j Not observed 

 ,, 4 j December 28 

 „ 20 ; Septembr. 19 



July 23 



18 

 August 10 

 July 27 



August 8 



November 8 



10 



October 1 



Time of having 

 completed the re- 

 assumption of full 

 male plumage. 



October 22 



5 

 5 



February 18 

 November 10 



October 1 



January 9 

 February 18 

 November 3 



the result of the daily observation of certain pinioned 

 birds on a pond at Easton, near Norwich, was published in 

 the " Zoologist " for 1851 (p. 3116) by Mr. J. H. Gurney, 

 from notes supplied him by his gardener, Mr. Annes (a 

 very reliable authority), and though relating to fowl in 



* Though commonly so called the proper name of this locality, 

 I am informed, is Tomston. 

 W 



