186 THE GADWALL. 
In size they vary from 2°05 to 2:2 in length, and from 1°47 
to 16 in breadth, but the average of 13 eggs is 2:62 by 1°51. 
THE MALES, as usual, are the heavier and larger birds. They 
measure :— 
Length, 194 to 21'5; expanse, 33 £0 36°75 ; wing, 10°75 to 
11°60 ; tail from vent, 3:0 ¢0 4°32; tarsus, 14 to 14> bul inom 
gape, 2:0 to 2:22; weight, (of birds in good condition), 1 Ib. 
7 ozs. to 2 tbs. 2 ozs. 
Of females, I have recorded the following :— 
Length, 18 to 20°1 ; expanse, 30 to 33°75 ; wing, 9'°0 to 102; 
tail from vent, 3°7 to 4°5(!); tarsus, 1°37 to 1:43; Dill@ieom 
Cape, 194 to 2:1 ; weight, ib. Loz: tom Ib, 1O,ozs: 
The irides are brown, sometimes tinged reddish in the male; 
the legs and feet vary from yellowish brown, through dirty 
yellow to dull orange, those of the old male being more orange 
and brighter coloured (though even then rather dull) than those 
of the female ever are ; the webs are always more dusky, some- 
times quite dusky, or almost black. In the male the bill is 
brownish black, or dusky leaden, generally tinged reddish, or 
even yellow on the lower mandible, and sometimes with this colour 
encroaching on the sides of the upper mandible. In the female 
the billis orange or brownish orange, (sometimes only yellowish 
brown,) dusky, to almost black on the nail, tip, and culmen; 
often the yellow or orange portions are irregularly blotched here 
and there with brown or dusky. 
It is probably the result of difference in age and season, or it 
may be because I have recorded the colours of the soft parts 
of so many specimens ; but certainly the variations in this res- 
pect appear to be very considerable in this species. 
THE PLATE is fair, but there is in nine cases out of ten a more 
or less perceptible dusky shade on the webs; the lower mandi- 
ble of the male almost always shows a yellow or orange tinge 
(during the time in which we see them) on the lower mandible. 
The upper mandible of the female always, I think, shows more 
yellow or orange on the sides of the upper mandible than is 
depicted in our plate. Then inthe male the lunations of the 
breast are a little too harsh and coarse, and the scapulars should 
be rather greyer. 
In many females the entire face is greyer, and the dark lines 
much more strongly developed than in the specimen figured. 
In the spring, the males develop a very full and silky, but 
short occipital crest, and acquire a distinct, though dull, green 
metallic lustre on the sides of the head and nape; moreover 
many begin to show a fulvous tinge over the base of the neck 
all round, forming an ill-defined ring, and in some this colour 
extends over the entire front of the neck, throat, and face. 
