BufFel-headed Duck 107 
eye on the cheeks to the long dark feathers of the crest ; nape, mantle, scapulars, back and 
rump black, edged with dark grey ; wing-coverts, blackish brown ; tail black, suffused with 
a grey sheen ; flanks grey, turning to pale brown at the thighs ; wings blackish brown, except 
the middle secondaries, which are white, and the smaller secondaries white edged with 
brown ; upper tail-coverts, light grey ; vent and thighs, light-grey ; under parts and chest, 
white ; sides of the chest grey, with sandy tinge to the edges of the feathers. The plumage 
advance appears to proceed more slowly than is the case with the Golden-Eye. In fact 
there is not much change in the dress of the immature male until February. A young male 
killed in February shows that the tail and all the lower parts about the belly have been 
replaced by adult plumage. The head and neck are in a state of moult, and the new black 
feathers on the head have obtained some degree of purple. 
From specimens in American collections it is clear that the young male only attains 
rather more than half his adult plumage in the first spring, and that its subsequent changes 
are a partial eclipse which is assumed in July, then a general moult takes place in August 
and September, and the subsequent full winter plumage is attained (very slowly) in November 
or December. 
Adult Male. — A broad white band covers the cheeks from below and behind the 
eyes, and passes round to the nape ; the rest of the head and upper neck glossy black, and 
much elongated ; chin and crown feathers glossed with purple ; the remaining dark parts 
shot with bottle-green ; centre of the back, mantle, parts of the scapulars, inner secondaries, 
rump, and wing-coverts velvety black ; outer scapulars, white, edged with black ; pri- 
maries, black ; central secondaries, white ; outer secondary feathers edged with black ; rest 
of the wing, white in the centre, and black with white-edged feathers on the outer sides 
of the wing ; flanks, chest and lower neck, vent and under tail-coverts, white ; upper tail- 
coverts, whitish-grey ; tail, grey ; lower parts from chest to abdomen, greyish-brown edged 
with white ; legs and feet, yellow underneath, with a complete flesh-pink sufl'usion ;^ irides, 
rich brown ; bill, dark lead-blue, becoming greyest towards the nail, with light yellowish 
edge to the upper mandible ; nail at end of bill, bone-yellow. Length, 13 to 14 inches; 
gape, 1.5 inch; wing, 6.7 inches: tarsus, 1.3 inch ; culmen, 1.45 inch. 
In July the adult male assumes a fairly complete eclipse, resembling a similar stage 
of plumage in the Golden-Eye. 
Adult Female. — Head, neck, back, rump, and tail, brown, the tips of the tail and 
sides having a greyish sheen ; many of the feathers of nape mantle and outer scapulars 
are edged with grey ; a somewhat large patch of white extends along the cheeks ; wings, 
blackish-brown, with central secondaries, white ; flanks, ash-grey ; under parts, white ; 
vent and thighs, ash-grey; bill, legs, and feet similar to male, only darker. Length, 12 
to 13 inches; gape, 1.25; wing, 6.25; tarsus, 1.2. Bill, pale to dark lead-grey; iris, 
brown ; feet, dusky bluish-grey, sometimes tinged with pink. 
Immature Female. — There is very little difference between the young female in 
November and the adult, the principal characters being that the young bird has a smaller 
cheek-spot, and the head grey-brown and much lighter than the adult. The mantle and 
^ Nearly every authority gives a different colour to the feet and legs. Naumann says "yellowish light-brown"; Dresser, 
"yellowish" (the plate, p. 439, showing bright yellow); Mr. Saunders and American authorities alone give yellowish-pink, which is 
correct. The specimen from which I took the colours, an adult male which I killed in Ontario in October 1899, was a typical one. 
The yellow shining through the rosy-pink was most noticeable in the hind toe. The rosy tinge disappeared a few days after death. 
