THE WIGEON. 291 



breast, belly and vent white, patch behind tibia finely vermiculated 

 dusky ; under tail-coverts black ; axillaries and under wing- 

 coverts white freckled and clouded dusky ; tail-feathers mouse- 

 grey narrowly edged white or buff, central pair deep (sometimes 

 blackish) mouse-grey without white edges ; primaries sepia, paler 

 on inner webs ; secondaries sepia with small white tips, all save two 

 outermost with proximal half of outer web metallic -green, distal 

 half black, that next innermost with outer web white narrowly 

 margined black towards tip, innermost secondaries mouse-grey, outer 

 webs black edged white and usually with white shaft-streak, short 

 ones uniform ; primary- coverts and bastard- wing as primaries ; 

 greater coverts with broad black tips, outer webs white and inner 

 mouse -grey, innermost feathers mouse -grey faintly edged white ; 

 median coverts white, inner ones, lesser coverts and bend of wing 

 mouse-grey edged light buff or white. This plumage is acquired by 

 a moult of body-feathers, innermost secondaries and central pair 

 of tail-feathers Aug. to Jan. 



Adult male. Eclipse. — The body-feathers are first moulted 

 followed by wings and tail June to Sept. Resembles adult female, 

 but easily distinguished by white wing-coverts. Head and neck 

 resembling adult female, but fore -part of crown usually with larger 

 and fewer black-brown spots and bars ; hinder-crown and nape 

 more heavily spotted and barred black glossed green ; chin, throat, 

 sides of neck and fore-neck rich cinnamon -brown narrowly streaked 

 black, sometimes with a green gloss ; feathers of upper-mantle 

 sepia or black-brown with broad cinnamon-brown, buff-brown, 

 olive -grey or pink-buff fringes, more or less strongly barred pink- 

 buff or pink- cinnamon (more uniform type, has bars less pro- 

 nounced, and more or less concealed), feathers of centre of mantle 

 usually with barring less pronounced and light edges broader* ; 

 scapulars black-brown with broad barrings, markings and edgings 

 of rich cinnamon- brown, some with white tips or faint white wavy 

 barrings, lowest scapulars as in winter ; (sometimes scapulars inter- 

 mixed with dark ash-brown feathers with one or both webs coarsely 

 vermiculated whitish, some shading to cinnamon-brown at tip) ; 

 feathers of back and rump dark ash-grey with faint white or buff 

 tips (back sometimes finely vermiculated white) ; upper tail- 

 coverts much as in adult female but in some more or less without 

 barring, in others irregularly barred whitish ; upper -breast rich 

 cinnamon-brown, feathers sometimes tipped buff- brown, mostly 

 with sepia or black-brown partially concealed spots or bars ; sides 

 of body and flanks rich cinnamon-brown (sometimes some flank- 

 feathers whitish with one or both webs coarsely vermiculated dark 

 ash-brown, some suffused cinnamon-brown) ; rest of under-parts 

 as in adult female ; central pair of tail-feathers mouse-grey or 

 sepia only slightly longer than rest, not finely tapering to a point 



* These variations form three types (which intergrade) with mantle : 

 (a) barred ; (b) less barred ; (c) vermiculated. 



