520 



8 



respect to the length of time which the male Garganey remains in the plumage of the female, 

 we have received the following note from our friend Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. : — "A tame one 

 which my father had alive in 1851 began to lose the full male plumage on the 16th of July, 

 completed the process on the 4th of August, began to reassume it on the 28th of December, and 

 completed the reassumption on the 18th of the following February, having been twenty-one 

 weeks in the plumage of the female, whereas a Common Teal on the same water was only nine 

 weeks and two days in it. Much may have been due to confinement ; but, of nine sorts of Ducks, 

 the Garganey remained the longest in the habit of the female." 



In the preparation of the above article we have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. Sharpe and Dresser, 

 a. Pesth (H. E. D.). b, c, d, e,f, g, h. Denmark {A. Benson). 



E Mus. J. H. Gurney, jun. 



a, b. Leadenhall Market, c, d. Bridlington, June 1st and 2nd, 1868 {Jones), e. Moscow, September 14th, 

 1869 (/. H. G.) 



E Miis. H. B. Tristram. 



a. S- Cambridge, March 20th, 1862 {H. E. Fox), b. Leadenhall Market (/. H. Gurney). c. Mirzapore 

 {W. G. Brooks), d. Algiers, March 15th, 1856 (H. B. T.). 



