222 RIVER AND POND DUCKS 



glossy purplish chestnut, paler and spotted with white where it meets white breast; 

 vertical bar of white and one of black on side of chest in front of folded wing; 

 sides, pale buffy, minutely vermiculated with black; the longer side-feathers broadly 

 black-and-white; large patch of purplish chestnut on each flank near base of tail, 

 the long upper flank-feathers here are blackish with central orange-brown streak; 

 belly, white; feet, dull yellow to orange yellow, with blackish webs; claws narrow, 

 sharp, and curved. Tail, black, glossed with purple, green, bronze and blue; under 

 surface, glossy brown; upper coverts, black, glossed with purple and green; under 

 coverts, glossy dark brown. Wings. Lesser coverts, greyish brown, with olive reflec- 

 tions; middle and greater coverts, glossed with metallic green and purple and 

 tipped with black; primaries, silvery grey on outer webs, dusky on inner webs, 

 with metallic-blue tips; secondaries, with speculum of iridescent bluish green, 

 bordered behind with narrow black and white bars, in front with black bar and 

 inwardly by rich dark purple; tertials, inner ones black, with white tips, outer ones 

 black, glossed with metallic blue; lining and axillars, white, marked with dusky brown. 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: The moult into the eclipse starts in June or July and is at 

 its height in August. The full-plumaged wing is renewed. The eclipse plumage 

 resembles that of the juvenile male, except that the breast of the adult remains 

 white and is not mottled as in the case of the juvenile; the back retains almost the 

 full metallic lustre of the winter plumage. The white markings of winter plumage 

 on the neck and throat, show distinctly throughout this moult. 



AUTUMN PLUMAGE: The moult out of the eclipse, in which the male closely 

 resembles the juvenile male, commences in August or September, and progress 

 toward full winter plumage is rapid. The wing is as in winter plumage. In the 

 early stages green crown and crest colours deveolp; dark feathers begin to show 

 on the scapulars, purple feathers on the upper chest, and the vermiculated feathers 

 on the sides begin to appear. Much variation in sequence occurs, some birds develop 

 the back plumage before that of the head, and vice versa. Later, the grey on the 

 forehead and sides of head is replaced, and the crest takes on its full length; the 

 back and rump gradually become bronzy green, and the scapulars, black; the whitish 

 feathers of the chest are replaced by purple and the white bar before the wing 

 becomes noticeable. Last to appear, usually by early October, are the broad black- 

 and-white markings of the longer flank-feathers, and the black bar in front of the 

 wing. Some birds regain the full plumage by the middle of September and others 

 not until the middle of October. 



ADULT FEMALE. Head, brownish ashy; crown and crest, brownish, glossed 

 with greenish; chin and throat, white; neck, brownish ashy; white ring around eye 

 tapering to a streak behind eye; narrow white ring around face near base of bill, 

 some times faint or lacking; bill, bluish grey, ridge and nail, blackish, whitish spot 

 below nostril, edges pinkish; bill, shape same as that of male; eye, blackish brown, 

 eyelids, bright yellow. Body. Back, scapulars and rump, brown, glossed with bronze 

 and greenish purple; chest and sides, olive brown, mottled with buffy; breast and 

 belly, white or creamy, the latter mottled with brownish; feet, dull yellow with 

 dusky webs. Tail, olive brown, glossed with greenish; upper coverts, brown, some- 

 times faintly glossed with bronzy green; under coverts, white, speckled with greyish 

 brown. Wings. Same as those of male except (a) colours duller and less iridescent, 

 (b) small patch of reddish purple on inner greater coverts, (c) secondaries, much 

 more broadly tipped with white, mostly on outer web, (d) tertails, brown with 

 bronzy gloss. 



