6 British Diving Ducks 
another in the Scampston collection was in full moult on 20th May. The eclipse dress 
of the male is very like the plumage of the female, but they may be at once distinguished 
by the wings, and the brighter colour of the eye, eyelids, bill, and feet, and by the darker 
colour of the underparts. The crest also is much longer and more pronounced. 
The windpipe of the male is very much like that of Mergus merganser. There 
are two extensions, and at the top of the lower part of the throat there is an angular 
instead of the usual round drum of bone. Towards the left side it is oblique, and consists 
of rounded swellings of bone with apertures in the skin. 
A dult Feinale. — Crown, dark grey-brown ; cheeks and sides of neck, grey ; scapulars, 
grey-brown ; wings similar to male, but paler, and marked in the centre of the secondaries 
with dark brown ; underparts, greyish white ; brownish grey on the flanks ; wing-coverts 
grey-brown, with dark brown centres to the feathers ; round vent and under tail-coverts, 
grey-brown. Bill, dusky black ; becoming paler towards the nail, which is yellowish or 
reddish-orange. Irides, brown or reddish-brown ; legs and feet, dull yellow, with darker 
webs. 
Length, 20.1 to 22 inches; wing, 9 to 10.25 inches; tarsus, 1.5 to 1.75 inch; weight, 
I lb. 10 oz. to 2 lb. 6 oz. (Hume). 
The young female is smaller and paler than the adult, but attains its complete plumage 
and colouring by the end of March. 
Breeding Range. — The general distribution of this beautiful duck extends from the 
Mediterranean region eastward to Central Asia, whilst it occasionally breeds in Central 
Europe (Germany and S. Hungary). 
6^. France. — W. E. Clark (Ibis, 1895, p. 202) states that it breeds in the Carmagne ; 
Collingwood Ingram {Field, Sept. 5 and 19, 1908) also gives interesting notes of its nesting 
in the south of France. 
Balearic Isles. — Nests in Majorca (Von Homeyer,y. F. Orn., 1862, p. 434). 
Spain. — Breeds in Valencia (Saunders, Lilford, Irby, &c.). It has recently been re- 
corded as breeding in numbers in the Lagunas de Daimiel, La Mancha, Central Spain, by 
A. Chapman (Unexplored Spain, pp. 190 and 410). 
Sardinia. — Salvadori states that some breed (see Brooke, Ibis, 1873, p. 344). This is 
confirmed by Bononi (Giglioli, Avifaune locali, p. 624). 
Sicily. — Breeds in Catania and Lentini (Giglioli, Avifattne locali, p. 568; Ootheca 
wolleyana, ii. p. 583) ; Catania, Terranova (Doderlein). Howard Saunders records it as one 
of the commonest breeding ducks. 
Italy. — Not rare in the marshes of North Italy, and probably breeds (Carrigoni). 
Germany. — Bred for at least four years near Mansfelder See (Baldamus, J. F. Orn., 
1870, p. 278 ; see also Naumann), also in Krakoner See in Mecklenburg (see Rey, Eier d. v. 
Mitt. Europ., p. 650 ; and Fritsch,/. F. Orn., 1872, p. 370). 
S. Hungary. — See Netier Naumann, vol. x. p. 198. Hocke also mentions eggs from 
Banat. 
Roumania. — Dr. Cullen stated to Elwes and Buckley that it bred in the Dobrudscha ; 
one killed by Sintenis Bros, on May 15, 1873, possibly breeding. Dombrowski states that 
it breeds in small numbers. There is an egg from the Danube in the British Museum 
(ex-Seebohm Coll.), and Jourdain met with several breeding pairs there in 191 1. 
