280 BAY, SEA OR DIVING DUCKS 



edged with white; feet, same as in winter. Tail and Wings, same as in winter plumage 

 but usually worn and faded. 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: There is no regular eclipse plumage. Instead, there are the 

 two plumages described above. The moult into summer plumage takes place in 

 April and May, and the moult into the winter plumage is during August and 

 September. (It is held by some that the plumage worn during the summer is a 

 prolonged eclipse plumage.) 



ADULT FEMALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: (The full plumage here described has 

 greatly variable stages.) Head and neck, mostly white or whitish but feathers of 

 forehead, crown, an area on cheeks, chin and sometimes on foreneck, tipped or 

 washed with brownish black; bill, greyish black to dusky green, darker towards tip, 

 much shorter than head; eye, brownish, pale grey, yellow or white. Body. Back, 

 rump and scapulars, dusky brown, with broad, cinnamon feathertips; chest, washed 

 with dusky brown and cinnamon; breast and sides, white, latter with greyish tinge; 

 belly, white; feet, greyish blue or greenish grey, with dusky webs. Tail, ashy brown, 

 feathers of middle, darker brown; upper coverts, outer ones, white, inner ones, ashy 

 brown, under coverts, white. Wings. Lesser coverts, dusky brown; middle coverts, 

 buffy, marked with brown; greater coverts, dusky brown with buffy tips; primaries, 

 dusky brown; secondaries, dull chestnut, outer ones greyish; tertials, dark brown, with 

 chestnut wash; lining and axillars, greyish brown and silvery grey. 



SUMMER PLUMAGE: Head and neck, the general effect is more dark greyish 

 brown than white, reverse of winter condition. The whitest areas are a white 

 ring around eye, a spot at base of bill, a line back of eye and a spot on side of 

 neck; bill and eye, same as in winter. Body. Same as in winter, except feathers of 

 foreback and scapulars have greyish edges unless worn or bleached; chest, greyish 

 brown; feet, same as in winter. Tail, same as in winter, but usually bleached and 

 more uniform. Wings, as in winter, but all parts bleached and worn, with little 

 buffy or chestnut. 



JUVENILE. By September the sexes are alike and resemble the adult female 

 in summer plumage, except head and neck are a light brownish grey, darker on 

 crown, and feathers on foreback and scapulars lack greyish edges. During November, 

 new feathers in the plumage of the young male are rapidly appearing, and the head 

 begins to resemble that of the adult male. During the winter, progress towards 

 maturity takes place by an almost continuous moult, and by the end of March 

 young male resembles adult male in winter plumage but lacks the long tail-feathers. 

 After the moult, which takes place in August and September, the plumage of both 

 sexes is that of the adult in winter plumage. Wing of Both Sexes. As in the adult 

 male but speculum, dusky, rather than chestnut brown; tertials, shorter and with 

 rounded, not pointed, tips. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



MALE. General effect: In winter, a small, chubby, piebald duck, mainly 

 white, with a very long tail. In summer, a chubby, dark brown, white-breasted 

 duck with a very long tail. Chief distinguishing features (a) hind toe with lobe, 

 (b) greatly elongated middle tail-feathers, (c) piebald markings of brown and 

 white (winter plumage), (d) bill, short and stubby, half pinkish or pinkish orange 

 and half black. 



The only other duck with an elongated tail is the Pintail, which belongs to 

 the subfamily of River and Pond Ducks and lacks the spatulate hind toe of the 

 Diving Duck group. 



