134 British Diving Ducks 
dark brown and slate. Bill, deep lead-blue with bone-coloured nail ; irides, rich red-brown ; 
legs and feet, deep brown, sandy brown on inner sides of legs and toes ; webs, blackish ; 
length, 15 to 18 inches ; wing, 8 to 8.5 inches ; tarsus, 1.4 inch. 
The Harlequin drake passes into a very complete eclipse plumage. Five old males 
shot by myself at Myvatn, July 2, 1891, had just commenced the moult, but were still, 
for the most part, in full spring dress. The eclipse proceeds slowly, and is not quite 
complete until September i (see Fig. 5). I examined the first specimen in eclipse in 
the collection of Mr. Coburn at Manchester in 1899, but the first examples of adult males 
in eclipse exhibited in this country were shown by Mr. Ogilvie Grant at a meeting of 
the B. O. C, December 14, 1910, and in the Bull, vol. xxvii. p. 38, 39, he described the 
eclipse plumage. Shortly afterwards I received specimens from Iceland of a similar kind, 
and have recently examined the fine series in the collection of Mr. E. Lehn Schioler, at 
Copenhagen. The whole of the plumage of the adult male in eclipse is a uniform dark 
slate-grey, the head and neck being somewhat darker, as well as the rump, under and upper 
tail-coverts, which are almost black ; the single white ear-covert spot is retained, and the 
white space in front of the eye is dull-white, both these parts being edged with black ; long 
scapulars, lower neck, upper and lower flanks, sooty-brown ; about the end of August the 
wings and tail are shed (as usual only once). Like all the diving ducks, the male Harlequin 
is practically in a state of moult from July ist until it reaches the full winter plumage early 
in October. A specimen in my collection (killed September 25, 1902) shows the last 
remnants of the eclipse disappearing. The final parts to change are the chin, throat, and 
neck, and these are being completely moulted. 
Adult Female. — The whole of the upper parts are a dark brown, with an olivaceous 
tinge ; crown and hind parts of the cheeks, slatey-brown ; a white spot below the eye to the 
gape, and a white spot above the eye and on the ear-coverts, slightly speckled with 
dark brown ; chin, greyish-brown ; flanks, rich brown ; wings and tail, blackish-brown, 
with a greyish tinge ; under parts, brown edged with white, becoming nearly white over 
the lower breast; legs and bill similar to the male, only duller. Length, 15 to 17 inches; 
wing, 7.5 to 8 inches ; tarsus, 1.3. 
Immature Female. — There seems to be less difference between the young and adult 
female Harlequin than almost any of the diving ducks. Yet the immature female, prior to 
February, when the new tail is assumed, can always be recognised by the worn ends and 
lighter colours of the tail and under parts. The under parts are not nearly so broadly 
speckled as the adult, and there is a greater area of white. The flanks are greyer, and have 
a sandy tinge. Also the white spaces about the eye are always more heavily edged with 
slatey-brown. 
By the end of March the difference is still less marked, but the young female always 
retains a considerable portion of immature feathers on the breast, lower parts, and flanks ; 
as the summer proceeds the scapulars and wings look worn and faded. In August the full 
moult takes place, and the immature female becomes adult in October, when the winter 
plumage is fully assumed. Irides of immature female, dark brown. 
Breeding Range. — The Harlequin Duck is an inhabitant of the northern portions of 
both the Palaearctic and the Nearctic regions, being more common in North America than 
in Europe and Asia. 
