a 
Long-tailed Duck 113 
of the eye divided by the eye stripe, and one more just above and behind the eye. The 
lower eyelid is also brownish-white. Throat, chin, and lower parts white, turning to grey 
about the vent. Front of thighs, brown ; irides, large and dark yellow-brown ; bill, black, 
with nail pale-brown and nostrils blackish-brown ; inside of bill, grey ; legs and feet, dusky 
greenish-black, with the hinder parts, soles of feet, and webs black. A greenish stripe 
extends along the toes. 
Immature Male.- — In first plumage, in September, the young male has the crown dark- 
brown ; the back of the neck is greyish-brown till it meets the mantle, which, with the 
wings, back, and tail are black, with a dark-grey suffusion. A dark band of greyish-black 
also crosses the upper part of the chest, and these feathers, as well as the grey and spotted 
ones on the sides of the chest, are edged with light sandy-brown ; the scapulars blackish- 
brown, edged with light sandy-brown ; flanks grey, tinged with sandy-brown ; thighs, 
grey ; breast, belly, and vent white. In many specimens only the centre tail-feathers are 
black, the rest being brown, edged with white, whilst some have a few sandy-edged feathers 
on the upper tail-coverts. Round the eye and lores whitish-grey ; cheeks, throat, and 
chin brown-grey. In many specimens the secondaries are brown, and the breast spotted 
with brownish-grey. In this month the young male is no larger than the female, but by 
the end of October it has grown to nearly the full size of the adult male. By the end of 
this month, and during November, new feathers are rapidly coming in, and the immature 
feathers of the head and neck are being replaced by others resembling those of the adult. 
On November 20th there is a black patch on either cheek, the chin dark-grey, the crown 
dark-brown and white intermixed, and the rest of the head and neck pure white. So far 
the only change in the plumage of the rest of the body is the influx of a few greyish 
feathers amongst the scapulars. On November 20th it is also not unusual to note a stray 
black feather on the lower chest. In the last week in November it is not rare to find 
immature males with whole of the scapulars grey and white, and the light brown patch 
behind the black patch on the cheek fully developed. Some also have numerous jet-black 
feathers on the upper breast and lower neck. The bill, too, assumes the pale colour of the 
adult. After December the winter plumage continues to advance slowly until the end 
of March, when the young male bears a resemblance to the old male, except that the black 
breast-band is incomplete, and the wings, back, and tail have not been renewed, but are 
faded and dull. In the first week in April the young male undergoes a full moult to the 
summer plumage, similar to the adult male, except that the wings and tail remain faded 
and worn as before. Another noticeable feature of the immature male is that the black 
breast is often only developed on the upper part of the chest, the lower remaining in the 
immature dirty-white plumage. In this half-changed plumage does the young male remain 
until the late part of July, when another full moult commences with a complete renewal 
of the wings and tail (the long central tail-feathers appearing for the first time) and breast 
and belly. From this date the plumage advances very slowly throughout August and 
September, when the young bird has an even darker appearance than the old male, but by 
the beginning of October the first adult winter plumage feathers on the head, neck, mantle, 
and scapulars make their appearance, all immature and eclipse feathers rapidly vanish, and 
the bird assumes its complete and first adult winter plumage about the middle or end of 
November. Thus the male may be said to reach maturity in seventeen months. 
VOL. I. P 
