176 RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



ADULT FEMALE. Head, with slight crest, and neck, pale buffy, streaked with 

 dusky, darker or crown; chin and throat, whitish, faintly spotted with greyish; bill, 

 dull orange, spotted with dusky, and dusky along ridge, shorter than head; nail, 

 black; eye, dark brown to brown. Body. Back, scapulars, chest and sides, brown, 

 feathers broadly margined, and with transverse bars of buff; breast, white; belly, 

 pale, often whitish, more or less faintly streaked with dusky; feet, dull yellow, webs, 

 dusky. Tail, dusky, marked with buffy or whitish at tips; upper coverts, brown, 

 margined with buffy; under coverts, similar, with paler, even whitish, margins. 

 Wings. Lesser and middle coverts, brownish grey, a few middle coverts faintly 

 tinged with chestnut and black; inner greater coverts, black, outer ones, greyish 

 white; primaries, greyish brown; secondaries, inner ones forming white speculum, 

 central ones black or grey, outer ones grey; tertials, pale greyish buff; lining and 

 axillars, white. 



JUVENILE. By September plumage of both sexes resembles that of adult 

 female but is darker and much more heavily streaked on underparts. Young male 

 can be told from young female by light bars on feathers of foreback, lacking in 

 young female, and by presence of vermiculated feathers on flanks. During late fall 

 and winter, sexes differentiate rapidly and by March plumage is practically adult 

 except breast somewhat spotted. Plumage is fully adult by second autumn. Wing 

 of Male. As an adult male but tertials, shorter and duller; coverts, with less chestnut. 

 Wing of Female. As in adult but tertials, shorter and browner; black in greater 

 coverts and speculum, sometimes replaced by dusky, and mottled with grey. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: General effect: A medium-sized, dark-grey duck, with 

 white breast and black hindquarters. Chief distinguishing features (a) hind toe 

 without lobe, (b) white in speculum, (c) chestnut wing-patch, (d) yellow feet. 



The Gadwall is the only River and Pond Duck with white in the speculum. 

 The only other ducks of this subfamily with yellow feet are the Wood Duck and 

 the tiny Blue- Winged and Cinnamon Teals. 



AUTUMN AND JUVENILE PLUMAGE: See "Descriptions." 



FEMALE. General effect: A medium-sized, mottled-brown duck, with whitish 

 breast. Chief features (a) hind toe without lobe, (b) white in speculum, (c) dull 

 yellow feet. 



The white speculum separates it from all other River and Pond Ducks. Super- 

 ficially resembles females of Pintail, Baldpate, and European Widgeon, but these 

 species lack the yellow feet of the Gadwall. 



FIELD MARKS 



ON THE WATER. Gadwalls appear as medium-sized, greyish-brown ducks, 

 with head and neck noticeably paler; in the distance they look like small editions 



of the Black Duck, but the body colour is 

 lighter. The flashy, white speculum is usually 

 a poor identifying feature, seldom being visible 

 when on the water, as the flight-feathers 

 of the sitting bird are generally covered by 

 the feathers of the sides. Gadwalls frequently 

 associate with Baldpates and Pintails; the 

 former, which they closely resemble, have a 

 white wing patch on the forepart of the wing 



