190 RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



as a male. In later autumn the vermiculated grey feathers of winter plumage are 

 found on lower back and sides, and the long central tail-feathers begin to be 

 noticeable. With completion of black scapulars in late November or early December, 

 the male Pintail has attained his full winter plumage. Considerable variation may be 

 expected in the progress and sequence of the moult. 



ADULT FEMALE. Head and neck, buffy, spotted and streaked with dusky, 

 darker on crown; chin and throat, pale, only faintly marked with dusky; hind- 

 neck, like crown; foreneck, buffy with brown markings; neck, long and thin; 

 bill, shorter than head, dark grey blue, sometimes with faint markings as in 

 male; eye, dark brown. Body. Back, scapulars and rump, brownish black, each 

 feather marked with V-shaped buffy bars and edged with whitish to cinnamon 

 buff; chest and sides, with about equal amounts of whitish or buffy white, and 

 dusky brown; breast, whitish to pale buffy brown, spotted with dusky brown; 

 and sometimes stained with rusty; feet, dark greyish blue to greenish grey, webs, 

 dusky. Tail, pointed, central feathers slightly elongated, dusky brown, edged and 

 barred with buffy whitish; upper coverts, like back but with broader white edges; 

 under coverts, whitish, streaked with brown. Wings. Coverts, browner than those 

 of male, edged with whitish, the greater, edged with cinnamon buff to white; 

 primaries, same as those of male; secondaries, with speculum similar to that of 

 male but very much duller and usually speckled with blackish, the iridescence 

 sometimes entirely replaced by dull brown; tertials, dull brown, edged with buffy 

 or whitish and sometimes streaked with buffy; lining, dusky, with white edgings; 

 axillars, white, mottled with dusky. 



JUVENILE. By the middle of September sexes are similar, and superficially 

 resemble adult female except underparts are more noticeably and regularly streaked. 

 In young males edgings to back-feathers are less buffy than in adult female, and 

 the markings are in form of wavy transverse bars and vermiculations. Back- 

 feathers of young female are edged with whitish, not buffy, as they often are 

 in adult female. By the beginning of December many young males achieve fully 

 adult plumage, except for wings; the majority, however, do not arrive at this 

 stage, with lengthened tail, until February and even then are somewhat duller 

 than mature males. Fully adult plumage in second autumn. Wing of Male. As in 

 adult but white tips to speculum, and cinnamon tips to greater coverts, usually 

 narrower; lesser and middle coverts, sometimes browner, less grey, and edged with 

 buff; tertials, rounded, shorter, and olive brown. Wing of Female. As in adult 

 female but tertials, plainer, and without buff markings; speculum, usually more 

 mottled, and white tips to greater coverts and speculum, narrower. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: General effect: A large, grey-backed, whitebreasted 

 duck, with brown head and long tail. Chief distinguishing features (a) hind 

 toe without lobe, (b) middle pair of tail-feathers greatly elongated, (c) dark 

 brown head, with white stripes, and very long neck. 



The only other duck that has an elongated tail is the Old-squaw which, 

 however, possesses the lobed hind-toe of the Diving Ducks. 



AUTUMN AND JUVENILE PLUMAGE: See "Descriptions." 



FEMALE. General effect: Entire plumage, mottled brown. Chief features 

 (a) hind toe without lobe, (b) long thin neck, (c) tail, pointed but not elongated, 

 (d) bluish-grey feet. 



None of these features, except (a), is possessed by the Black Duck, female 



