The Mallard 



243 



as the eggs are laid and the young birds have to be 

 attended to, the male birds disappear, and it would seem 

 that they go through a thorough process of moult, shedding 

 their beautiful tails, and being scarcely able to fly. The 

 males then put on a hen-like plumage on the head and neck, 

 which resembles the dress of the female birds, and doubt- 

 less this temporarily-assumed plumage helps to conceal 

 the bird in its defenceless condition, when the ordinary 

 black head and neck of the male bird might render it 

 easily conspicuous. 



Ducks also go through a wonderful transformation of 

 plumage, as may be seen by the series of specimens of 

 the Mallard (Anas boscas] given to the Natural History 

 Museum by Lord Walsingham and exhibited in the Great 

 Hall of that Institution. The beautiful plumage of the 

 male bird is that of winter, for in summer, after the female 

 has begun to hatch the eggs, he proceeds to throw off the 

 fine feathers which render him such a handsome object, and 

 he dons for a few weeks a dull-coloured dress which is 

 scarcely to be distinguished from that of the hen. At the 

 same time he moults all his quills, and is practically 

 defenceless, so that he is obliged to hide himself away 

 until his wings have grown again. By gradual and slow 

 degrees the male bird regains his bright plumage, but this 

 is a work of time, and the full livery is not completely put 

 on till the late autumn. This shedding of the brilliant 

 plumage and the passage to the duller or " eclipse " stage, 

 as it is called, doubtless acts as a protection to the species 

 during the time when it cannot fly, as the brown colouration 

 is less likely to attract attention. Sea-birds, like the male 

 Eider-ducks (Somateria), which have a particularly attractive 

 plumage when adult, leave the neighbourhood of their 

 nesting-grounds as soon as the young are hatched, and 

 betake themselves to the open sea, to pass through their 

 " eclipse " stage, and regain their wing-feathers. Whether 



