WILD DUCK:. 17 



tipped with white; tertiaries, pale chesnut brown, the outer 

 webs darker than the inner. The tail, of twenty feathers, 

 has the four middle ones deep velvet greenish black, and 

 curled upwards and backwards, or to speak perhaps more 

 correctly, forwards, the others greyish ash colour, the margins 

 white, those of the outermost feathers the widest; upper tail 

 coverts, bluish or greenish velvet black; under tail coverts, 

 velvet black. Legs and toes, orange yellow; webs, orange 

 yellow. 



In some other species of birds, we find the female, in 

 occasional exceptional instances, the consequence either of age 

 or of some peculiar constitutional idiosyncrasy, assuming the 

 plumage of the male, but it is a curious fact in the natural 

 history of the Mallard, as also indeed in that of other Ducks, 

 that every year, in every instance, he assumes the dress of 

 the female, perhaps a shade darker. This change commences 

 about the beginning of the last week in May, and is com- 

 pleted in a month, namely by the beginning of the last 

 week in June. In the beginning of August he again begins 

 to don his own attire, and by about the end of the first 

 week in October is 'himself again.' 



The female is less than the male. Length, one foot ten 

 inches; bill, greenish grey, black on the inner part, and light 

 yellowish brown towards the tip; the tooth black. Iris, 

 brown; head on the sides and the crown, pale buff brown 

 with streaks of blackish brown; neck, also pale buff brown 

 and streaked with blackish brown, but the streaks smaller; 

 the lower part of the neck of a richer tint; chin and throat, 

 pale buff brown. Breast, pale dull yellowish brown, the 

 centres of the feathers varied with a darker shade; on the 

 sides pale yellowish brown with blackish brown spots; back, 

 blackish brown, the feathers being deeply margined with reddish 

 white and pale yellowish brown. 



The wings have the first and second quill feathers nearly 

 equal in length; greater wing coverts towards the end, white, 

 the tips velvet black; lesser wing coverts, greyish brown, 

 with the lower tier deeply tinted with pale reddish brown; 

 primaries, dark brown; secondaries, dark brown on the inner 

 webs, on the outer the speculum has the upper half green 

 with purple reflections, the lower half velvet black with white 

 tips to the feathers; tertiaries, also dark brown. Tail, brown, 

 the feathers margined with white and reddish white; under 

 tail coverts, pale brown, the centres of the feathers varied 



VOL. VII. C 



