Harlequin Duck 133 
front of the wing margined with white ; legs and feet, brown below and stone-grey above ; 
webs, blackish ; bill, dull lead-blue with nail inclined to bone colour. 
Immature Male. — In first plumage in October the young male closely resembles 
the adult female, but can readily be recognised by the worn tips of the tail, less white on 
the breast, and the colour and form of the head and neck feathers. The flanks of the 
young male also are slate and not rich brown as in the adult female. Head and neck, 
slatey-blue, turning to brown on the lower neck, with a pure white spot on the ear-coverts ; 
there is a white patch in front of the eye ribbed with dark brown ; the spot over the 
eye is also well speckled with brown ; the whole of the under parts are pale brown evenly 
ribbed with white edges to the feathers ; all the upper parts except the worn tail similar 
to adult female. Towards the end of November the young male begins to assume the 
adult dress rapidly ; the tail and tail-coverts are replaced by adult feathers ; a tinge of 
burnt sienna appears on the long flank feathers ; the wing-coverts, the scapulars, mantle, 
and the whole of the adult feathers on head and neck come in, so that by the end of 
January a young male in my possession is almost like an adult, except for the smaller 
black and white bars on the sides of the chest, a brown rump and bill, moulted and 
immature under parts, and immature wings. 
The change then proceeds very slowly. From specimens in Mr. Schioler's collection 
it is clear that the male Harlequin follows the same course of plumage as the Long-tailed 
Duck and the Golden-Eye. A greater or lesser part of the immature under parts are shed 
between the months of March and June, and the last signs of immaturity in the shape 
of the wings are not shed until late July or August, when the young male goes into an 
eclipse similar to the adult male. By September the new wings are obtained and the 
portions that were assumed as eclipse are being shed, so that it is not until November, that 
is, at fourteen months, that the young male stands in full dress.^ It will breed in the 
following spring. 
Adult Male. — A broad stripe of black from the point of the crown to the nape; on 
its lower edge from above the eye to the nape there is a broad band of burnt sienna ; in 
front of the eye from the black crown to the gape is a wide equilateral space of white ; 
chin and throat black ; rest of the head, blackish-blue, becoming black below the eye and 
round the edges of the two white spots on the ear-coverts and immediately behind them ; 
a broad w^hite collar margined on both sides with black encompasses the lower neck, 
becoming very narrow when it meets the chest ; chest, mantle, back, and inner scapulars 
blue-black ; outer scapulars white, margined on the shoulders with blue-black passing 
into black. There is another broad band of white on the sides of the chest just in front 
of the wings which is also deeply margined with velvety black. Front half of flanks and 
under parts about as far as the vent blue black, having a brown tint over the whole of 
the lower region ; latter half of the flanks rich burnt sienna ; rump, under or upper tail- 
coverts, black with a bluish sheen ; one white feather on the sides of the under tail-coverts ; 
tail and primaries, brown black ; secondaries, black richly glossed with purple ; inner 
secondaries next to the wing-coverts, black glossed purple and edged with white ; upper 
wing, brown edged with blue-black ; sometimes a feather or two spotted with white in 
the centre ; wing-coverts, white and margined with black and blue-black ; long scapulars, 
^ The colours of these fourteen months males are never so rich as those of older birds. 
