Ornithologists' Club. 403 



A. S. Elliot, describing the seasonal changes of plumage 



in the Long-tailed Duck [Harelda glacialis). Dr. Elliot -f- 



remarked as follows : — 



'' The seasonal change in this Duck is particularly inter- 

 esting, in that the species differs from most of the Anatidce 

 in having a complete summer plumage. 



" This change is due to a complete moult of the pattern 

 on the head, neck, and dorsal region in the male, and to a 

 thorough moult in the female, excepting the white feathers 

 of the belly and the wings. This moult takes place before 

 the birds move northwards, and it is a change which we may 

 suppose to bring it more in harmony with the surroundings 

 of its summer home. We notice, too, that this change is 

 not confined to the male, but is also shared by the female, 

 which becomes distinctly darker as the spring progresses. 



" From February to the end of May, by which time the 

 change of plumage is completed, the bird is in moult, the 

 long sickle-shaped white scapulars being some of the last 

 feathers to fall. 



" This may be very well traced in the specimens exhibited, 

 which have been obtained in the early months of the year. 

 This Duck being a typical deep-sea Duck, revelling in the 

 green seas of the North Atlantic, and seldom approaching 

 land except in the breeding-season, it appears to follow that 

 this change takes place simply to afford it some protection 

 from its traditional enemies, for of all the family this Duck 

 nests in the most accessible places, near rivers and in swamps, 

 on the ground, whereas others of the same family, e. (j. the 

 Golden- eye and the Harlequin, seek more secure nesting- 

 sites. The Long-tailed Duck would undoubtedly, if not thus 

 protected by a garb assimilating to the surroundings, be the 

 prey of each and every animal in the Arctic region. 



" It cannot be said that the change from the strikingly 

 beautiful winter plumage to that of the more sombre garb of 

 summer is one assumed with a view to attract the other sex, 

 and the fact that it is only the upper part of the body that 

 is moulted — the black feathers of the breast and white ones 

 of the belly being retained as in winter — is further presump- 



