332 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



grey edged white ; rest of under-parts white ; axillaries, under 

 wing-coverts and tail as male ; wing as male, but middle greater 

 coverts with broad black tips forming a wing-bar ; lower series of 

 median coverts black tipped white, upper series mostly white 

 shaded ash-grey towards base (amount of white varies considerably 

 individually) ; lesser-coverts and bend of wing blackish-grey more 

 or less shaded deep grey towards tip, some tipped white. This 

 plumage is acquired by a complete body-moult Aug. to Dec. 



Adult female. Eclipse. — Feathers of head and neck all round, 

 mantle, scapulars, upper and under tail-coverts, upper-breast, 



sides of body and flanks followed 

 by wings and tail are moulted 

 July and Aug. Feathers of back 

 and rump and of rest of under- 

 parts are apparently only 

 moulted once. Coloration as in 

 winter -summer but head and 

 upper -part of neck sepia ; nape 

 and rest of neck dark ash-brown 

 with no white collar ; scapulars 

 black- brown, edged dark ash- 

 brown not white ; upper-breast 

 dark ash-brown, feathers tipped 



TheGoldeneye. Adult female. buff -white; Sides of body and 



flanks dark ash-brown, feathers 

 tipped brownish -white or greyish -white. 



Nestling. — Down of crown, lores, cheeks and centre of nape, 

 rest of upper -parts, sides of body and back of thighs sepia or black- 

 brown ; a white bar across wing, a white patch on either side of 

 centre of back, another on either side of rump and one above thighs ; 

 rest of cheeks, sides of neck, chin, throat and fore-neck white (in 

 some a dusky spot on chin) ; rest of under-parts white, upper- 

 breast suffused dusky-brown, sometimes a brown patch on either 

 side of vent. 



Juvenile. Male. — Distinguished from adult female by larger 

 size. In coloration more like adult female eclipse than winter and 

 summer but comparison with latter is here made as it is more 

 generally known. Head and upper-part of neck sepia (not bistre), 

 rest of neck all round dark ash -brown ; feathers of mantle browner, 

 with narrower grey edges ; scapulars black-brown or sepia tipped 

 buff-brown ; upper-breast, sides of body and flanks dark ash-brown,, 

 feathers mostly tipped buff or buff-brown ; sides of vent and 

 feathers across vent as female but ash-brown ; rest of under-parts as 

 female ; tail as female but tips square and shafts projecting ; wing 

 as female but white on greater coverts usually more extensive and 

 black-brown tips usually narrower forming an ill-defined (in some 

 obsolete) wing-bar ; lower series of median coverts black, some 

 more or less shaded pale greyish-white towards tip, upper series pale 

 mouse-grey or pale greyish-white, some tipped white (occasionally^ 



