THE DUCK 



the winter plumage of adult birds. With the coming 

 of the breeding season the males of most of the anatidce 

 assume a dingy, or comparatively dingy, garb, which 

 more or less closely resembles that of the females. 

 In the case of the mallard, for instance, the glossy 

 feathers of head and neck and wing, the snow-white 

 collar, and the colours of breast and back are all 

 discarded, their place being taken by plumage exactly 

 resembling that of his mate. Not till the autumn is 

 he again found in his full brilliant feathering. The 

 young birds of some of the duck retain their imma- 

 ture plumage till the spring following their birth, and 

 thus do not appear in adult winter feathers until 

 upwards of a year and a half old. Taking the long- 

 tailed duck as an example : in winter we have on our 

 coast the mature males with their elongated rectrices ; 

 the immature males whose elongated rectrices have 

 not appeared; the mature females, and the young 

 females whose plumage is as yet immature all differ, 

 ing so much from each other that one unstudied in 

 ornithology would unhesitatingly declare them to be 

 distinct duck. 



Young duck are unable to fly till long after their 

 hatching. 



