36 The Natural History of British Ducks 
I have said before that young males in March are in full plumage except 
for the spotted breast and vent ; but it does not do to dogmatise on this 
point, for I have in my collection a young male whose entire plumage was 
practically complete at eight months. This, however, is quite the exception, 
and (as in the case of Wigeon) entirely due to high condition, and to the 
fact that it was an unusually strong and early hatched bird of the previous 
year. It may be said then that, like the Wigeon, the male Gadwall, having 
renewed his wings in the eclipse stage, comes out in full winter plumage in 
October, i.e. when the bird is sixteen months old. Yet here again we are 
confronted with a fact on which hypercritical critics may be disposed to split 
hairs. The young male birds are never so rich in colour, nor, as a rule, so 
big as drakes of a year older ; and the same thing may be said of all the 
AnatidcE. This, however, is a small point, hardly worth arguing about ; so 
let us call the bird adult when he has really gained his full plumage and will 
breed, though he has not quite arrived at the zenith of perfection. 
Old male Gadwalls occasionally become very heavily ribbed all over their 
backs, and of this type I have figured (with other males) a very beautiful 
specimen, kindly lent to me by Mr. Heatley Noble, and shot by that 
gentleman near Thetford. 
The Gadwall drake is, with the Red-crested Pochard, the first of all 
the ducks to lose his spring glory, and I have seen a male on Mr. St. 
Quintin's lake in full eclipse on May 20. As a rule, old male Gadwalls have 
changed to the brown dress by June i, the young males of the previous year 
altering their clothing a month later. About the end of August they begin to 
change colour and moult, as do also the Wigeon and the Mallard. 
The Female Gadwall . 
The female Gadwall is considerably smaller than the male. The crescent 
markings on the neck are brown, and not so clearly defined as in the male. 
