262 On Eclipse Plumage and Flightlessness.


Goose ( Anseranas melanoleuca) of Australia, a bird remarkable

for its un-duclc-like feet, which are only half-webbed and have a

well-developed hind toe, unlike the short useless member of

most of the family. This species was stated by that well-known

aviculturist, Mr. F. E. Blaauw, in a letter to the Ibis in 1898, only

to drop its quills gradually, so that it always retained the power

of flight, he having observed this peculiarity in birds of his own.


An assertion has been recently made to the effect that the

Coot differs from other rails in not losing all its quills at once.

This may be so in individual instances, but the contrary was

stated by St. John in his “ Natural History and Sport in Moray¬

shire,” and my own observations on Coots confirm this state¬

ment. The fact that the Coot lives more in the open than our

other Rails is 110 reason why it should not moult its quills all at

once. Dr. Blanford, in his “ Fauna of British India,” well says

the Coot resembles a Duck rather than a Rail in its habits, so that

■one would expect it to moult like a Duck even if other Rails did

not. I cannot agree with Mr. Bonliote that this bird is an in¬

different diver ; according to my observations it dives freely and

frequently and gets much of its food in this way, as any one may

see in the London Parks.


With regard to the Grebes becoming flightless when moult¬

ing, I may mention that I pointed out that this was the case ; at

any rate in the Indian Dabcliick ( Podicipes albipe?inis ) in a paper

in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for 1897, which

was reprinted in the Avicultural Magazine for 1898-99.


In conclusion, reverting to the original point raised by

R. L. in the Field, I may draw attention to the fact that there is

at least one duck in which the eclipse phase of the male is a

true winter plumage—the pretty little Goose-Teal or Cotton-Teal

(. Nettopus coromandeliamis') of the East. Whether, however, the

few other members of the genus have such a plumage, and when

it is worn, I have not been able to discover so far.


[Since the above was written the question as to the eclipse plumage of

Pochards has come before the British Ornithologists’ Club. I have looked

up the plate in Naumann’s Naturgeschichte Vogel Europa's (pi. XIV.)

wherein undress males of the White-eyed and Common Pochard are

figured, and all I can say is that I have never seen them so feminine look-



