zlii 



of its summer liome. We notice, too, that tliis change is 

 not confined to the male, but is also shared bv the female, 

 which becomes distinctly darker as the spring progresses. 



" From February to the end of May, by which time the 

 change of plumage is completed, the bird is, in moult, the 

 long sickle-shaped white scapulars being some of the last 

 feathers to fall. 



" This may be very well traced in the specimens exhibited, 

 which have been obtained in the early months of the year. 

 A typical deep-sea Duck, revelling in the green seas of the 

 North Atlantic, and seldom approaching shore except in the 

 breeding-season, it appears to follow that this change takes 

 place simply to afford some protection from its traditional 

 enemy, for of all the family this Duck nests in the most 

 accessible places, near rivers and in swamps, on the ground, 

 whereas others of the same family, e. y. the Gold en- eye and 

 the Harlequin, seek more secure nesting-sites. The Long- 

 tailed Duck would undoubtedly, if not thus protected by a 

 garb assimilating to the surroundings, be the prey of each 

 and every animal in the Arctic region. 



''It cannot be said that :he change from the strikingly 

 beautiful winter plumage to '^hat of the more sombre garb of 

 summer is one assumed with a view to attract the other sex, 

 and the fact that it is only the upper part of the body that 

 is moulted — the black feather's of the breast and white ones 

 of the belly being retained as in winter — is further presump- 

 tive evidence that tlie change- is one effected with the design 

 of concealment. ^loreover, in the Orkneys the birds an 

 observed to have paired by April, whilst they are yet in 

 winter plumage. 



"The down which the female uses for lining her nest appears 

 as a distinctly new growth on the breast and belly ; it is very 

 thick, and darker in colour than eider-down. The male 

 supplies no down. 



"This Duck certainly feed^ on fish as well as on molluscs ; 

 for the stomachs of all those examined, without exception, 

 contained fish-scales, 



"The eyes pass from straw-colour in the winter dress 



