A natural history of the ducks (1922) (14578268120)

Identifier: naturalhistoryof01phil (find matches)
Title: A natural history of the ducks
Year: 1922 (1920s)
Authors: Phillips, John C. (John Charles), 1876-1938
Subjects: Ducks
Publisher: Boston New York : Houghton Mifflin company
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library



Text Appearing Before Image:
in male.Wing 325-330 mm.; bill 40; tarsus 58-62. Lvimature: As Sclater noted in 1866 both sexes pass through a plumage more nearly resembling themales than the females, a fact of great interest and rarity in the bird world. The head and upperportion of the neck are sooty black, varied with hght brown; lower portion of neck dark brown, withnarrow transverse hues of rufous; the whole of the imder stirface blackish brown, mottled and barredwith rufous, each feather narrowly margined with white; shoulders, back and lower parts of the bodyblack, with white freckles and vermiculations; wings as in the adult; rump and tail black; under tail-coverts pale ferruginous (Buller). Young males have a tinge of brown about the head and the shoulders more or less margined withduU fulvous brown, presenting on the surface, wavy lines (Buller). Young females show irregularwhite feathers on the head and neck, which rapidly increase in number, till the plumage of theseparts becomes entirely white (Buller).
Text Appearing After Image:
NEW ZEALAND or PARADISE SHELDRAKE 251 Young m Down: Specimens which I saw in the Leyden Museum seemed to me indistinguishablefrom young of the Common Sheldrake. Bullers description follows: Covered with soft down, forthe most part pure white, but largely varied on the upper surface with brown; the cheeks, throat, foreneck, and all the under surface entirely white; the top and upper sides of the head, in a hne with theeyes, the hind neck and shoulders, a broad mark down the back spreading on the tail, the anteriorportion and tips of wings, and a broad patch on each flank, continued in a line over the thighs, dullumber-brown; bill and feet pale brown. Remabks: It is probable that all the Sheldrakes have at least a partial double moult. This hasbeen referred to in connection with the Common Sheldrake. In the present species the female hasbeen noticed to assume colors somewhat like those of the male, on the mantle, flanks, scapulars andbelly, after the breeding season (Jones, Avicult. Mag