1 
The Gadwall i 37 
Although she has the white wing patch, it is not so broad as in the other 
sex, and there is no chestnut on the middle wing coverts. 
Unlike any other surface-feeders, the females of this species seem to be 
all of one type in point of colour — a uniform brown, with white breasts. In 
the summer the whole plumage becomes very much darker ; the black-brown 
upper parts of the back and scapular feathers, work more to the surface, and 
their light edges are duller and narrower. The breast, too, for the greater part, 
becomes heavily spotted, particularly so towards the vent. In the breeding 
plumage the female is easily distinguished from the male in eclipse by the 
narrower band of white on the outer web of the secondaries, which remains on 
the wing at all seasons, and there are no chestnut feathers on the median 
wing coverts. Moreover, in eclipse the male has many little jagged bars of 
grey on the upper feathers of the scapulars. 
