304 ANATIDJ:. 



bill greenish-grey. The pure white colour is assumed by 

 slow degrees, and the males do not attain the appearance 

 of adult birds till their third winter. 



The female in colour is like the hen of the Black Grouse, 

 namely, a pale brown, tinged with red, and varied with 

 marks of darker brown ;*very similar to the female of the 

 King Duck hereafter figured ; the quill and tail-feathers 

 dull black. 



The following notes in reference to the periodical changes 

 of the plumage in old and young Eider ducks, have been 

 supplied me by James Hunt, the head-keeper at the 

 Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park. 



August 21st, 1845. An old male. This bird began to 

 lose its white, or breeding plumage, about the 7th of June, 

 and by the 20th of July it was almost black, a few white 

 feathers being left on the back, which did not disappear. 

 This change seems to be an alteration in colour, as very 

 few feathers were shed during the change. He remained 

 in this state of plumage till about the 4th of August, 

 when he commenced moulting, and about the 14th, the 

 white feathers on the breast and back began to reappear. 

 He is now full of new feathers and getting the white 

 plumage fast. 



A male bird of the year 1842, received from Norway 

 in October, 1844, did not acquire his perfect breeding 

 plumage this last summer (1845). 



Eleven young birds of the season of 1844, were re- 

 ceived at the Gardens from Scotland on the 24th of August 

 of the same year : they were then about eleven weeks 

 old, of a dark brown colour, and without distinction in 

 plumage as to sex. About a month after their arrival the 

 male birds began to get much darker in colour, almost 

 black, and by the middle of October a few white feathers 

 began to appear on the back. The white feathers did 



