316 BAY, SEA OR DIVING DUCKS 



ADULT FEMALE. Head and neck, cinnamon buff, finely streaked with black, 

 darkest on crown; bill, pale greenish grey or yellowish; the peculiar bill-processes 

 present in male are poorly developed in female, but are quite different from those 

 of other female eiders; eye, dark brown. Body. Back and scapulars, brownish black, 

 feathers edged with tawny and buff; rump, chest, and sides, cinnamon buff, feathers 

 with black U-shaped marks; breast, brown to blackish; feet, dull greenish grey 

 to dull yellow; webs, dusky. Tail, dark brown; coverts, like rump. Wings. Lesser 

 and middle coverts, like back; greater coverts, brown, inner ones with white 

 tips; primaries, blackish brown; secondaries, with speculum of blackish brown, 

 bordered inwardly, in front and behind, with white; long inner secondardies, sickle- 

 shaped, blackish brown, edged with cinnamon; tertials, blackish brown, broadly 

 edged on outer webs with cinnamon; lining, mottled with grey, pale brown and 

 white; axillars, white, faintly mottled with brownish. 



JUVENILE. During the first autumn and early winter the young male is 

 dull brown with paler edges to the feathers; the underparts are dull mottled 

 brown; the bill is flesh coloured. In the late winter and early spring the back, 

 scapulars and sides become nearly black; the crown and neck become darker brown; 

 a variable amount of white appears in the chest, each feather tipped with 

 dusky; some white dusky-bordered feathers appear on the sides of the rump. 

 Some birds show considerable white on the neck and throat, with a suggestion 

 of the black V during the first spring. The underparts and wings show no 

 change. 



After the first eclipse moult, which takes place during the summer and has 

 disappeared by November, the young male, which is now in its second winter 

 plumage, is practically adult in appearance, but the plumage is somewhat duller. 

 After the second eclipse, when about 28 months old, the young male acquires 

 the fully adult plumage. 



The plumage changes of the young female are similar to those of the 

 American Eider. Young females are similar to adult females but the colours are 

 duller, particularly on the underparts. The bill is greyish olive. Wing of Male. 

 (1st autumn) As in adult female but coverts, dusky, with paler edges to feathers; 

 white tips of greater coverts and secondaries, absent or only faintly indicated; 

 speculum, duller and greyish; tertials, shorter and less curved. (2nd autumn) 

 Lesser and middle coverts, white, margined, and shaded with dusky (pure white 

 in adult male). Wing of Female. As in juvenile male, but speculum, paler; tertials, 

 less curved than in young male or adult female. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: General effect: A very large duck, with creamy- 

 white foreparts, black hindparts, and peculiar, high, yellow bill-process. Chief 



distinguishing features (a) hind toe with lobe, (b) 

 bill-processes (fig. 52), see "Description." 



This bird can be confused with no other duck. 



AUTUMN AND JUVENILE PLUMAGE: See "Descrip- 

 tions." 



FEMALE. General effect: A very large, tawny- 

 brown duck, heavily barred with brownish black. Chief features (a) hind toe with 

 lobe, (b) bill-processes (fig. 52), see "Description," (c) white tipping to greater 

 coverts and secondaries, on inner part of wing only. 



This duck is very similar to the other female Eiders. For distinctions see 

 "Specimen Identification" of female American Eider. 



