488 



uropygio utrinque et dorso postico macula dilute flava : subtus flavescenti-albus : hypochondriis 

 crissoque fuliginoso lavatis. 



Adult Male, spring. Crown and nape dark reddish brown, indistinctly barred with blackish brown ; head 

 and neck dull brownish white, everywhere narrowly barred with blackish ; back blackish, each feather 

 marked with narrow white cross bars, which follow the contour of the feather ; lower part of the back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts velvety black; tail ashy brown; quills dull ashy brown, much darker on 

 the outer web and tip, outermost secondaries with the outer web velvety black, the inner ones having 

 this portion of the feather white, forming a conspicuous white alar patch ; larger wing-coverts velvety 

 black ; median coverts rich chestnut-red ; lesser coverts dull grey, marbled with sandy brown ; scapulars 

 and elongated innermost secondaries dull light brown, some of the former barred like the back ; breast 

 blackish, narrowly marked with transverse white lines, flanks similar, but with the lines finer and closer, 

 abdomen white ; under tail-coverts jet-black ; under wing-coverts white ; bill blackish along the ridge 

 of the upper mandible, otherwise dirty yellow; iris dark brown; legs dirty yellow, web blackish. 

 Total length 21 inches, culmen l - 9, wing 10 - 4, tail 4"0, tarsus T55. 



Male in summer plumage (Hjelstaviken, Sweden, June 3rd). Crown brownish black, with a greenish tinge; 

 an indistinct streak through the eye dark brown ; rest of the head and neck dull brownish white, 

 marked with blackish brown, as in the previously described bird ; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 dark blackish brown, each feather margined with rusty red; wings and tail as in the bird above 

 described ; breast dull rusty red, each feather with a central black spot ; flanks dark brown, broadly 

 margined and marked with dull rufous ; the rest of the underparts dull white, each feather having a 

 central blackish brown drop-shaped mark. 



Adult Female (Ekolsund, Sweden, July 18th). Crown and nape blackish brown, narrowly striated with 

 pale rufous ; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and scapulars blackish brown, margined and marked with 

 rufous; tail dull white, washed with rufous and marbled with brown; quills dull greyish brown, 

 secondaries darker, the outermost almost blackish grey ; three central secondaries having the outer web 

 white, forming a distinct speculum, all the rest being narrowly tipped with white ; wing-coverts dark 

 grey, tipped with dirty white, the larger ones marked with rufous ; chin and upper part of the throat 

 pure white; neck and breast dark brown, broadly edged with rufous; flanks dark brown, edged and 

 marked with rufous grey, centre of the abdomen dull white; under tail-coverts dull white, spotted 

 with brown. 



Young in down. Covered with short soft down ; head, nape, back, and rump dark dull brown, on each side 

 of the rump and behind each wing-joint a sulphur-yellow spot, the wing-joints being marked with that 

 colour ; forehead, space round the eye, throat, and chest pale sulphur-yellow ; abdomen white, shaded 

 with sulphur-yellow, on the lower part sooty grey. 



Like the common Wild Duck the Gadwall has a most extensive range, being met with in 

 Europe from Iceland southwards ; throughout Asia, except in the far east ; in Africa, and 

 throughout a large portion of Northern and Central America. To Great Britain it is only a 

 rare winter visitor, though, according to Mr. A. G. More, the nest has been found in Norfolk, in 

 which county it is said by Professor Newton to breed regularly, though probably the stock was 

 originally the produce of semidomesticated birds. In regard to its having been met with in 

 Scotland, Mr. Robert Gray writes that, " although but a few instances of the occurrence of this 

 species in Scotland have been recorded in the writings of British authors, the Gadwall has been 



