EASTERN HARLEQUIN DUCK 287 



Eastern Harlequin Duck 



Histrionicus histrionicus histrionicus 

 (his-tri-6n-i-kus) 



Colour Plates Nos. 23 and 21. Downy Young No. 35. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Histrionicus, Latin, relating to histrio, meaning a stage player; the bird being 

 decked out in various colours as if to act on the stage. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN LOCAL USE: Blue-streak; canard a collier (collared duck); canne de roche 

 (rock duck); circus duck; lord and lady (these names generally used together, 

 but sometimes separated to indicate the sexes, which are also called cock lord 

 and lady lord); lord bird; mountain duck; painted duck; rock duck; sea-mouse; 

 squealer; totem-pole duck (Western Harlequin); wood duck. 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULT MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: Head and neck, dark slate blue, with 

 purplish tinge; crown, black; throat, sooty black; white, triangular patch be- 

 fore eye tapers to streak over eye, turning to chestnut over eye and continuing 

 to back of head where it meets its fellow; second white spot below and behind 

 eye; third elongated white patch on side of neck; white collar around lower neck, 

 incomplete in front and behind or showing vaguely in front; all white markings 

 bordered narrowly with black; bill, bluish grey, much shorter than head; nail 

 yellowish; small fleshy lobe on upper mandible at gape, overhanging lower man- 

 dible, not present in female or juvenile; eye, dark brown to reddish brown. 

 Body, Foreback and chest, slaty blue; clear, black-bordered, white crescent in 

 front of bend of wing; hindback and scapulars, slaty blue, latter with middle 

 feathers white, bordered outwardly with black then slaty blue, forming white bar 

 on shoulder which connects with broad white tertials; rump, steely blue black; 

 breast, slaty brown; belly, slaty brown to dusky; sides, rich reddish brown; small 

 white spot on flank at base of tail; feet, greyish blue to greyish brown, with dusky 

 webs. Tail, long and pointed, slaty black; upper and under coverts, black. Wings. 

 All coverts, dark slate, greater with purple gloss; two series of small white spots, 

 one on middle, one on inner greater coverts in front of speculum; primaries, 

 dusky, brownish on inner webs; secondaries with dark blue speculum with pur- 

 ple gloss; tertials, grey on inner webs, white on outer webs, margined with black; 

 lining and axillars, dusky brown. (Note: Only fully matured birds achieve this 

 distinctive plumage; under three years of age the markings are less clearly de- 

 fined.) 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: The moult into eclipse starts in June or July, when the 

 plumage becomes uniform slate-grey, except for the wings, which retain the adult 

 male pattern; the two white face-patches become less distinct and are mottled with 

 brownish grey. 



AUTUMN PLUMAGE: The adult male commences, in early autumn, a moult 

 out of the eclipse plumage, in which it somewhat resembles the female, towards 

 full winter plumage. The wing is as in winter plumage. In early stages some new 

 black, and a few new chestnut feathers may be seen on the crown; new slaty-blue 

 feathers appear on the back and scapulars, and often one or two white feathers 

 in the middle of the scapulars. The first slight indications of the black-and- 



