490 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



than the upper parts, giving them the appearance of 

 a lighter grey ; vent white ; under tail-coverts black ; 

 legs, toes and webs orange. In summer, from about 

 the middle of July to the middle of September, the 

 Mallard loses his beautiful plumage and puts on a 

 much more sombre dress : the glossy green of the 

 head and neck become a sort of greyish brown, and 

 the finely pencilled feathers of the back and flanks 

 change to a sort of mottled brown, something like 

 those of the female, as does the vinous-red of the 

 breast ; the two curled feathers of the tail also are 

 lost. Yarrell quotes a full account of this change of 

 plumage in the Mallard from Waterton, who fixes 

 the time of the commencement of the change as early 

 as the 24th of May, and says that it lasts till about 

 the 10th of October. I do not myself remember 

 ever to have seen the change commence before the 

 end of June or beginning of July, and now (the 28th 

 of September) they have all assumed their proper 

 colour again ; not so, however, the Pintail and 

 Wigeon, neither of which have yet recovered their 

 plumage.* In the female the beak is darker than in 

 the male, greenish black on the ridge and orange- 

 brown on the edges and towards the point the nail 

 is black ; the irides are brown ; the head and back of 

 the neck are pale yellowish brown, streaked with 



* This change of plumage is common both to the Rouen 

 Duck and to the Call Duck. 



