The Goosander 
87 
may be called its first eclipse or semi-eclipse dress. The black feathers on the neck are 
moulted, and the whole of the bird (except the wings, which remain blue-grey on their upper 
parts) soon resembles the adult male in eclipse, but is slightly paler. The blue-grey dress 
is moulted later. In August the main moult takes place, and proceeds slowly through 
September, October, and early November, at which date all traces of eclipse and immaturity 
are lost, and the young male assumes its first full winter plumage. It is, therefore, adult at 
seventeen months. 
Adult Male. — Head and neck black, glossed with bottle-green on the upper sides of 
the neck, and purple on the upper sides of the crown. Occipital feathers much elongated ; 
lower neck and upper mantle white ; back and scapulars glossy black with a purplish tinge ; 
lower part of the back, rump, tail-coverts, and tail, ash-blue, the tail being slightly darker, 
with shafts blackish-brown. Primaries black, with an ashy tinge ; secondaries white and 
cream, with a narrow black edging. Inner long secondaries black; rest of the wing- 
coverts white. Flanks and under parts salmon-buff, cream only on the upper breast and 
lower neck. Under tail-coverts cream, washed with grey, and finely vermiculated with 
black behind the thighs. Bill deep red-vermilion, with the ridge of the upper mandible 
and nail blackish. Irides deep red ; legs and webs vermilion-red. Length, 25 to 26 inches ; 
wing, II inches; tarsus, 1.9 inch. 
In May the adult male goosander begins to assume its eclipse plumage. Specimens 
in this dress are extremely rare, but I have been able to examine three and figure two kindly 
lent to me by Mr. Schioler. The general appearance of these two birds resembles the 
immature male, but the adult in eclipse can be readily distinguished by the wings, which 
are the same from May to September as in winter, and merely moult once, as is the case in 
all other ducks. The adult male in August has the crown reddish-brown, with a grey 
tinge ; chin white, and the rest of the head and upper neck rich red-brown. There is a 
black mark in front of the eye, and a whitish line from this to the lower angle of the upper 
mandible. The lower neck is blue-grey, interspersed with creamy-white ; mantle, flanks, 
scapulars, back and tail blue-grey ; the flanks have a few white feathers on the outer sides, 
vermiculated with brownish-grey; the last inner secondaries only change from black to 
black ; wings as in winter, and now changing as usual only once ; under parts not so rosy 
as in winter. In early September the wings and tail are renewed, and the black feathers 
on the mantle come in. After this the whole plumage proceeds to moult slowly, the full 
winter dress not being assumed until early December. 
Immature Female. — The first plumage closely resembles the immature male, but the 
bird is smaller, and the bill not so thick or long. (For other points, see " Immature 
Male."). 
By the end of October the white throat-line is curtailed by the red-brown, and the long 
occipital feathers have grown to their full length. The young female, during the first 
winter, can always be distinguished from the adult by being whiter on the breast, having 
a darker bill, and less abundant crest. The feet are also much paler, and in the spring do 
not get the rich red-vermilion of the adult. Immature females present a worn and be- 
draggled appearance by June, the breast becoming nearly white. Another almost invariable 
character of the immature female is the worn ends of the tail feathers, but, like many other 
diving ducks, the tail is sometimes renewed in winter or spring in advanced birds. 
