GADWALL. 



157 



and vent, covered with two shades of grey in short lines ; 

 under tail-coverts bluish-black ; legs, toes, and their mem- 

 branes, orange ; claws black. 



The female has the head and upper part of the neck 

 spotted with dark brown, on a surface of pale brown ; the 

 alternate crescentic bands on the lower part of the neck 

 in front dark brown, and pale brown, but the bands broader 

 than in the male ; under surface of the body white ; lower 

 part of the neck behind, and the upper surface of the body, 

 brown, the feathers edged with paler brown ; wing-coverts 

 brown, with paler margins ; speculum like that of the male ; 

 tail-feathers of dark brown, with edges and tips of pale 

 bufFy brown and white. 



The young birds of the year at the Zoological Gardens, 

 compared with the old birds, are of a more uniform reddish- 

 brown colour above, speckled with dark brown ; the middle 

 of each feather also dark brown. 



The Avindpipe of the Gadwall is rather small in calibre, 

 with a slight enlargement of the tube about two inches above 

 the bony protuberance as here shown. The voice of this 

 species is loud, and hence it obtained the name of strepera. 



