BROWN DUCK 



ELASMONETTA CHLOROUS (G. R. Gray) 



(Plate 51) 



Synonymy 

 Anas chlorotis G. R. Gray, Voyage Erebus and Terror, Birds, p. 15, pi. 20, 1846. 

 Nesonetta aucklandica Hector (nee G. R. Gray), New Zealand Exh., p. 277, 1866. 

 Elasmonetta chlorotis Salvadori, Cat. Birds British Mus., vol. 27, p. 287, 1895. 



Vernaculab Names 

 English: Brown Duck. 

 Maori: Pateke, Tarawhatu, Tete-where. 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Head and upper neck grayish, lighter on chin and throat, and with an area of greenish 

 reflections along the sides of the occiput. Mantle grayish brown like the neck, with indistinct wavy, 

 black and rusty -colored barring. Outer scapulars black on the outer web, the rest nearly like the 

 mantle. Back, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail dark brown with some greenish reflections. Sides of 

 rump black with a whitish area anterior to it. At junction of neck- with breast-color there is an ir- 

 regular white collar, not always well developed. Breast chestnut, fading into pinkish brown, and 

 finally to gray on the lower abdomen, the whole underside being spotted with nearly round black dots. 

 Under tail-coverts black. Outer wing-coverts brown. Speculum on the secondaries metallic green, 

 framed posteriorly with a buffy-white bar. Primaries and tertials brown. Under wing-coverts brown, 

 axillars white. 



Iris black. Bill bluish black and with marked pectinations which are yellowish brown. Feet dull 

 slaty gray. 



Wing 195-203 mm.; bill 44; tarsus 42. 



Note: Buller adds that in some male specimens the color of the lower part of the neck and breast 

 deepens to a dark chestnut, the abdomen is mottled and banded with pale fulvous on a dark- 

 brown ground; while in others the white neck-ring is wanting and the vermiculation on the upper 

 parts is scarcely apparent. 



Adult Female: A plain brown-colored duck with no very distinctive characteristics. Lower parts 

 lighter brown, with nearly obsolete blackish spots. Wing as in the male. Central tail-feathers rather 

 long and pointed. 



Bill, according to Buller, grayish brown. Legs pale yellowish brown. 



Wing 185-195 mm.; bill 39; tarsus 37. 



Immature Male: Similar to the female, with no white collar and little or no green gloss on the head. 

 The breast is not deep chestnut, but the round spots are more or less developed. There are a few 

 vermiculated feathers in the mantle, and among the scapulars; the white patch at the sides of the tail 

 just appearing. 



