The Wigeoii 
49 
abroad, I saw flocks of immature drakes as late as the month of September, in 
full eclipse plumage, but with the wings still in the brownish-grey of im- 
maturity. By shooting a number of males at all seasons, and also keeping 
them in confinement, I can now definitely state that a percentage, perhaps 
a third, of the young males which are forward birds will obtain their full 
plumage in March, before they leave us for the breeding grounds, and that 
they obtain the white wing by means of a colour change only. The majority of 
young males, however, leave us with the brown-grey wing, change in June and 
July into the eclipse plumage, but still retain this brown-grey wing until August 
or September. A moult then takes place, and the birds get the white shoulder 
of the adult male. Thus the bird comes back to us, having only just obtained 
the plumage of completely adult males at that season. An important fact to 
notice is that young males in moulting their primaries in August or September 
are never incapable of flight like old males, for they moult their quills alter- 
nately, or in small patches, and so always have a sufficiency to bear them in 
flight. The young Wigeon in down is easily recognised from the young of 
other surface-feeding species, by its comparatively large body and small head 
and bill. In about four weeks it obtains the full first plumage. The breast 
is then generally white, almost from the vent to the lower part of the throat ; 
but in certain specimens it is spotted throughout. The young male is usually 
somewhat darker than the young female, and he may be readily recognised 
from her by the one or two grey-ribbed feathers, which appear almost at once 
between the thigh and the tail coverts, and a certain grey feather with rib- 
bings on its edge which always appear at the end of the scapulars. 
In the case of the male Wigeon trending towards maturity, and even in the 
case of adult males changing from the spring to the eclipse plumage, or back 
again from the eclipse into the winter plumage, we fail to notice the extraordinary 
colour sympathy which is seen in the Mallard drake in all these stages. That 
a certain amount of colour change does take place, and at some seasons to a 
considerable extent, is perfectly evident ; but in the case of the Wigeon, nearly 
all the transitions of plumage are performed with a directness and force of 
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