GADWALL. 257 



shades of brownish-grey, the darker colour occupying the 

 centre of each feather, the lighter colour forming the mar^ 

 gin : rump and upper tail-coverts bluish-black : tail fea- 

 thers dark brown, with lighter-coloured edges ; lower part 

 of the neck in front, and on the side, dark grey, each feather 

 ending in a half circle of lighter grey ; breast and belly 

 white; sides, flanks, and vent, covered with two shades 

 of grey in short lines ; under tail-coverts bluish-black ; 

 legs, toes, and their membranes 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 buify brown and white. 



The young birds of the year at the Zoological Gardens, 

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

 dish-brown colour above, speckled with dark brown ; the 

 middle of each feather also dark brown. 



The windpipe 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. 



VOL. III. 



