ANATID2E. 499 



speckled with minute spots of black; the back, scapu- 

 lars and rump are finely pencilled with black and 

 white, the pencilling much finer on the rump ; the 

 lesser wing-coverts are white, the greater tipped 

 with black ; the primary quills and the tail-feathers 

 brownish grey ; the speculum on the secondaries 

 glossy green, the feathers tipped with black, one 

 feather nearest the body is. white; the tertials are 

 black on the outer web, edged with white, dark grey 

 on the inner webs ; the breast is pale pinkish red ; 

 belly and vent white, slightly pencilled with black ; 

 the tail- coverts all round are black ; the legs, toes 

 and webs dark brown. The male Wigeon, like so 

 many others of this family, changes its plumage very 

 considerably in the summer, but does not approach 

 so nearly to the plumage of the feimile as some of 

 the others : the whole of the head, neck, breast and 

 flanks become at this time a rich rusty red, which 

 colour seems more or less to pervade the whole of 

 the body, except the wing-coverts and the belly, 

 which remain quite white. My tame one is now (the 

 end of September) just beginning to reassume its 

 ordinary plumage, the conspicuous white mark on 

 the head making its appearance first. The female 

 the bill bluish black ; irides brown ; the head and 

 neck are much mottled with dark brown and reddish 

 brown ; the back and rump dull dark brown ; the 

 tail-coverts the same, margined with white ; the 

 scapulars the same as the back, but marked with 



