GADWALL. 115 



among individuals, and spotted with black ; rest of head light 

 buff or whitish, speckled with blackish brown. Throat, buff, 

 indistinctly spotted with brown. Flesh, dark buff, spotted with 

 blackish. Upper part of back and breast marked with crescent- 

 shaped black and white bars, the former broadest and most 

 prominent. Back, scapulars, and flanks, undulated with slate 

 color and white. Long scapulars, fringed with rusty brown. 

 Lesser wing coverts, gray; middle coverts, bright chestnut; 

 greater coverts, velvety black. Secondaries, pale gray; outer 

 webs, white, forming a speculum beneath the black coverts. 

 Primaries, gray. Crissum and upper tail coverts, jet black. 

 Tail, dark gray, whitish on the edges. Vent and under tail 

 coverts, black; rest of under parts, white. Bill, bluish black. 

 Iris, brown. Legs and feet, orange yellow; webs, dusky. Total 

 length, about 20 inches; wing, lof ; tail, 8^; culmen, i^; tarsus, 



Adult Female. — Top of head, blackish, faintly marked with 

 buff. Rest of head and neck, yellowish, spotted with blackish 

 brown. Chin and throat, yellowish white, minutely spotted with 

 dark brown. Back and breast, fuscous, the feathers margined 

 with buff. Lower back and rump, fuscous. Wings, like the 

 male, but usually without any chestnut, the wing coverts being 

 gray, tipped with whitish. The speculum is white, with little or 

 no black on its front edge. Primaries, fuscous. Under wing 

 coverts and axillae, white. Upper tail coverts, fuscous, with V- 

 and U-shaped bars, and edges of buff. Tail, fuscous edged with 

 gray and whitish. Sides, ochraceous, with large spots of fuscous. 

 Anal region and under tail coverts, buff, spotted with fuscous. 

 Rest of under parts, pure white. Bill, dusky, orange near the 

 edges. Legs and feet, dingj' yellow; webs, dusky. Smaller in 

 size than the male. Total length, about 19 inches; wing, 10; cul- 

 men, 1/^; tarsus, ly"^. 



Young. — No chestnut or black on the wings; white on second- 

 aries not clear; under parts with nebulous brown centers to the 

 feathers. Rest of plumage like the female. 



Downy Young. — Forehead and space around the eye, throat, 

 and chest, rich yellow. Upper parts, dark brown, with dark 

 yellow spots on sides of back and rump, and on edges of wing. 

 Lower parts, sooty gray. 



