160 
ANAS FALCATA 
DESCRIPTION 
Adult Male: Ctowti deep chestnut; sides of the liead bronze-purple, greener posteriorly; a long 
green mane on the back of the nape; throat and upper part of the neck white, intersected below by a 
green collar; mantle and upper scapulars with narrow crescentic bands of gray and blackish; rump 
blackish; basal upper tail-coverts gray, vermiculated with black, the longer ones black and entirely 
hiding the tail; upper breast w’aved with alternate crescentic bars of black and white, producing a 
regular scaled appearance; lower breast whitish, each feather with black bars, one of which is sub- 
terminal; sides, flanks, and abdomen waved wdth narrow' black and grayish bands; under tail-coverts 
black, very long, and reaching beyond the tail; on each side of the under tail-coverts a very distinct 
buff patch, the bases of the feathers being black, showing a beautiful black bar, which separates the 
buffy patch from another silky white band formed by the tip of lowest flank feathers; scapulars gray, 
narrow’ly w'aved with black, and more or less distinctly whitish on the edges; a black patch on the 
outer scapulars; w'ing-coverts gray, the last row whitish; wing speculum on the secondaries dark 
glossy green, bounded below by a narrow wdiitish band at the tip of the secondaries; tertials very long 
and narrow, sickle-shaped, with the shafts whitish, the webs velvety glossy black, the edges and 
parts of the inner webs gray; quills dark gray, almost blackish toward the tip; under wing-coverts 
white, but the greater ones gray; axillars w'hite; tail-feathers gray, with narrow white edge (Salvadori, 
1895). 
Iris dark browm. Bill dark horn-color, almost black. Legs and feet yellow'ish to dull bluish gray. 
(Live specimen at Wenham.) 
Wing 225-242 mm.; tarsus 37-40; bill 41. 
Adult Female: Superficially resembles female of Anas strepera, but head has a crest and the specu- 
lum has no posterior white patch. Rump and upper tail-feathers of Anasfalcala banded with fulvous, 
but unbanded in the Gadwall. Upper breast darker than abdomen and with dark crescentic bands. 
Upper side has the feathers conspicuously banded and edged with fulvous. 
Colors of soft parts as in male, but culmen more or less freckled w'ith black; lower mandible yellow 
in the Gadwall, and black in the present species. 
Wing 227 mm.; bill 39; tarsus 37-39. 
Adult Male in Eclipse Plumage (see plate) : Wing with the new feathers similar to breeding 
(winter) plumage; mantle, scapulars, and back dark brown with a very few maculated white-and- 
black feathers scattered through the mantle. Tail slate-colored. Head like that of adult female, but 
slightly iridescent on occiput. Lower surface very much like female Gadwall : yellowish white spotted 
with brown, the spots large on the breast. The tertials are only as long as the fourth primary and are 
plain-colored (specimen from northeastern Siberia, September 7, 1900, in American Museum of 
Natural History). 
Young Male (in .January): Still has some brown feathers in the mantle. Sickle-feathers not yet 
developed, although rest of plumage is very nearly adult. The plumage is said to be practieally 
complete by the beginning of March (St. Quintin, 1917) but I do not believe this holds true for all 
young males. 
Young Female: Like adult, but without elongated feathers at the back of the head. Tertials 
browner, and speculum less brilliant. 
Young in Down: Said by Mr. St. Quintin to resemble closely the young of the European W'idgeon, 
but the sides of the head reddish and the bill longer and stouter. The line through the eye is not well 
