WILD FOWL 
GADWALL 
CHAULELASMUS STREPERUS 
(Plate XXVIII, Fig. 4) 
Chauliodes strepera, Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 366 (1837). 
Chaulelasmus streperus. Dresser, Birds Europe, vi, p. 487, pi. 424 (1873); Hume & Marshall, 
Game Birds Ind., iii, p. 181, pi. 24 (1880); Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 221 
(1895). 
Anas strepera, Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. Birds, part xv, pi. (1890); Saunders, III. Man. Brit. 
Birds, p. 425 (1899); Millais, Surface-feeding Ducks, p. 29, pis. xii, xiii (1902). 
DULT male. — Grown of the head dark brown mottled with dull 
rufous, rest of the head and neck whitish -buff thickly 
/ speckled with brown; feathers of the mantle black with 
I white wavy bars; lower back, rump and upper tail- 
i coverts black; inner scapulars ashy-brown margined 
.j/k Hl^.with pale rufous-buff,;; wings ash-brown, most of the 
median wing-coverts dark chestnut; innermost greater secondary- 
coverts black; median secondaries black on the outer web, innermost 
ones pure white, forming a black and white speculum when the wing is 
closed ; feathers of the chest white and black with a submarginal white 
band, giving these parts a scaled appearance ; sides and flanks black, 
finely waved with white; breast and belly mostly white in the middle 
and vermiculated towards the sides with greyish -brown ; under tail- 
co verts black ; under wing -coverts and axillaries white ; tail-feathers 
grey, edged with whitish, and the outer pairs indistinctly mottled with 
buff towards the end of the outer web. Iris dark hazel; bill lead-colour; 
legs, toes and membranes dull orange. Total length about 21 inches; 
bill 1*7 inch; wing 10*7 inches; tail 3*7 inches; tarsus 1*5 inch. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage . — Very similar in plumage to the adult 
female, but easily distinguished by the dark chestnut wing -coverts. 
Adult female . — General colour of the plumage much like that of the 
female mallard, but the wing-speculum is black and white, much as 
in the male, though none of the secondaries are black on the outer web, 
all being grey except the two innermost ones, which are whitish. The 
chin and throat are spotted with dark brown like the rest of the head, 
and the underparts, including the under tail -coverts are more finely and 
distinctly spotted with brown ; under wing -coverts and axillaries white ; 
the much narrower and shorter bill is also a character by which the 
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