216 RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



still retains the yellowish-brown colour of the eclipse (black in winter). In early 

 November the head begins to show some of the green feathering of winter plumage; 

 some white feathers appear on scapulars and chest, and some chestnut feathers 

 on sides, breast, and belly. Further progress towards full winter plumage is slow, 

 and varies greatly in different birds; some birds regain full winter dress in 

 December but the majority not until January. 



ADULT FEMALE: Head and neck, greyish buff, streaked and spotted with 

 dusky brown; crown and streak through eye, darkest; throat, and area at base 

 of bill, palest and least streaked; bill variable, olive grey or olive brown, shading 

 to greenish at tip, finely spotted with black, edges and lower mandible orange, 

 same shape as in male; eye, yellow to straw colour. Body. Back, scapulars and 

 rump, brown, feathers broadly edged with ashy buff; chest, greyish buff, spotted 

 with brownish ashy; sides, brownish ashy, feathers broadly bordered with greyish 

 buff; breast, belly, and flanks, greyish buff, less spotted than chest and often stained 

 with rusty; jeet, orange. Tail and upper coverts, grey brown, becoming whiter; 

 under coverts, greyish buff. Wings. Lesser and middle coverts, greyish blue; 

 greater coverts, dusky, more narrowly tipped with white than in male; primaries, 

 dusky; secondaries, with speculum of less metallic green than in male and narrowly 

 bordered in front and behind with white; outer secondaries, dusky brown; tertials, 

 brownish, with olive wash and margined with ashy buff; lining, whitish; axillars, 

 white. 



JUVENILE. During first autumn and until January sexes are alike and 

 resemble adult female except upperparts are darker and more uniform; head and 

 neck are darker; underparts of young male are richer; young males are somewhat 

 brighter than young females and their breasts are usually tinged with chestnut. 

 Young males may be told from young females by the flanks, which in the former 

 are buff, barred with brown, while in the latter they are as in the adult female. 

 Bills of both sexes are pinkish horn. From the end of January young males undergo 

 a steady change towards maturity and month by month they more closely resemble 

 the adult male, but even by June, when the eclipse moult takes place, they are far 

 from fully adult plumage. By second autumn, young males are like adults but 

 duller, and not until second spring is the fully adult plumage achieved. Wing of 

 Male. As in adult male but tertials, dull, olive brown, and rounded, not pointed as 

 in adult (similar to those of the adult female); lesser and middle coverts, duller and 

 greyer, with little blue; greater coverts with narrow white tips, and generally with 

 dusky spot on white of inner webs. Wing of Female. As in adult female but green 

 of speculum less extensive, speculum being mostly olive brown or dusky; greater 

 coverts, with much less white and often barred and spotted with dusky, these coverts 

 often grey blue, with narrow white tips and buffy markings next to shaft; lesser and 

 middle coverts, with little blue, duller and greyer, and often with central buffy 

 markings, these coverts, sometimes brownish. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: General effect: A small, strikingly-marked duck, with 

 dark green head, white chest, and red breast and sides. Chief distinguishing features 

 (a) hind toe without lobe, (b) very long, broad, spoon-shaped bill, much longer 

 than head (fig. 43) (c) blue wing-coverts. 



The disproportionately large bill of the Shoveller separates it from any 

 other duck. 



