192 THE SHELDUCK AND SURFACE-FEEDING DUCKS 



far as the secondaries are concerned, is of a rich metallic steel-blue, bounded 

 along its hinder margin by a black-bordered white band, the white area formed 

 by the tips of the remiges. Anteriorly it is bounded by a similar band formed by 

 the tips of the major coverts, but here the black traverses the tips of the feathers. 

 The sexes differ widely in coloration, and the male undergoes a striking seasonal 

 change of plumage. Length 23 in. [584 mm.]. (PL 157.) The characteristic mark 

 of the male is furnished by the middle tail-feathers, which are conspicuously curled, 

 and of a dark glossy green almost black in colour, as are the rump and under tail- 

 coverts. The head and neck are of a rich metallic green. Round the neck is 

 a ring of white. The interscapulars are brownish, the hue varying individually 

 in intensity : the scapulars and breast and flank feathers are greyish white with 

 fine grey vermiculations, while the fore-breast is of a rich dark chesnut. The beak 

 is olive-green and the legs orange, while the iris is hazel. The " eclipse " dress 

 mid-June to mid-September differs from that of the female in that the crown, 

 back, and rump are of an almost uniform dusky tint, the scapulars lack the broad 

 sub-marginal and marginal ochreous bands, the wing-coverts are of a uniform 

 grey, and the abdomen and under tail-coverts are heavily spotted. In the duck 

 the plumage is of a dark brown mottled with ochreous; on the crown this mottling 

 has a streaked effect, while on the outer webs of the hinder scapulars this hue forms 

 a pair of broad, curved ochreous bands. The juvenile dress resembles that of the 

 female : but the male may be distinguished by the dusky coloration of the neck, 

 back, rump, and tail ; the female by light brown cross-bars on the rump feathers, 

 the sandy yellow streaks on the crown, and the paler lores. She is also smaller than 

 the male. The young in down are of an olive-brown above, with a dark streak 

 before and behind the eye, which contrasts with the golden yellow colour of the 

 side of the head. There is a buff band along the hinder margin of the fore-arm, 

 which partly covers a similar transverse band on the trunk ; and there is a further 

 short transverse band across the loins. The under parts are of a pale golden 

 yellow, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. This is by far the commonest and most generally dis- 

 tributed of our British breeding ducks, and breeds in suitable localities throughout 

 the British Isles. Its breeding range extends to the Faeroes and Iceland, but the 

 race inhabiting Greenland has been subspecifically separated. On the Continent 

 it ranges up to Finmark in Norway and north of Uleaborg in Finland, while it is 

 not found north of the Arctic Circle in North Russia. South of these limits it 

 is generally distributed over the European continent south to the Mediterranean. 



