Part 75

"Female.--Upper parts dark brown, each feather with a pale margin; broad superciliary stripe whitish; a dusky band behind eyes; sides of head and neck whitish, streaked with black; chin and throat white; feathers of the lower fore neck blackish, with whitish edges; breast and abdomen white; sides, vent, and under tail-coverts white, with brown-black spots; wings grayish brown; a dull metallic green speculum, bounded anteriorly and posteriorly by two white bands; under wing-coverts brown, margined with white, the greater ones pure gray, the central ones, like the axillars, white. Size smaller than that of the male.

"Young in first plumage resemble the females, but are darker and more suffused with rufous on the breast.

"'Adult males in molting plumage closely resemble adult females, but are darker in color, and may be distinguished by the brighter alar speculum.' (Seebohm.)

"'Downy nestling resembles that of the mallard, but it is smaller, and has a broad unbroken buff streak above the eye, and a well-defined dark streak through the eye.' (Yarrell.)" (Salvadori.)

In immature plumage this species is likely to be confounded with Nettion crecca and must be determined with care. The adult males of the two species are very different.

Genus SPATULA Boie, 1822.

This genus is characterized by the peculiar bill which is twice as wide near the tip as at the base; sides of upper mandible turned under near tip.

163. SPATULA CLYPEATA (Linnæus).

SHOVELER.

Anas clypeata Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 124. Spatula clypeata Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27, 306; Blanford, Fauna Brit. India Bds. (1898), 4, 452, fig. 118 (head); Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 221; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 177; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 38.

Calayan (McGregor); Mindoro (McGregor); Luzon (McGregor, Worcester). North America, Europe, and western Asia; wintering in Africa, Arabia, Persia, Indian Peninsula, southern China, Hawaii, West Indies, and Central America to Colombia.

"Adult male.--Head and upper part of neck dark glossy green; lower neck, breast, and anterior scapulars white; middle of back dark brown, the feathers with pale edges; ramp and upper tail-coverts black glossed with green; lower breast and abdomen rich chestnut; flanks, vent, and thighs paler, freckled with brown; under tail-coverts black, glossed with green; a white patch on the lower flanks at the base of the tail; upper wing-coverts and the outer web of two of the longer scapulars pale blue; remainder of the scapulars black, all with a broad silky white stripe along the middle; last row of wing-coverts tipped with white, forming a band, which borders anteriorly the glossy green wing-speculum; tip of the secondaries and the primaries brown; under wing-coverts and axillars white; tail mostly white, freckled with brown-gray, central feathers brown, edged with white. Iris yellow; bill lead-color; feet reddish orange. Length, about 508; wing, 260; tail, 95; culmen, 70; tarsus, 35.

"Female.--Upper parts brown, each feather with a broad reddish margin; throat reddish immaculate; feathers of back and scapulars with reddish bars, more or less crescentic; under parts reddish buff, each feather brown in the central part, especially those of breast and flanks; under tail-coverts lighter; wings resemble those of the male, except that the blue on the wing-coverts is very dull and the speculum not so glossy; tail-feathers whitish, with brown marks. Beak olive-brown, base of the maxilla and the entire mandible orange; iris hazel-brown; feet dull orange.

"Male in first plumage resembles the female, but the wings are brighter colored. Bill pale reddish brown; legs and feet flesh-color.

"Males in their first nuptial plumage have the white of the breast with a few dark crescentic bands, the lower belly with dark bars, and the rich black of the under tail-coverts mottled with chestnut and white.

"Adult male in molting plumage may be distinguished from the adult female by the greater brilliancy of the blue and metallic green on the wing, the plain dark upper tail-coverts, and the general darker color of the entire plumage; the crown is dark brown.

"Young in down resemble those of the wigeon in having the upper parts almost uniform, with indistinct pale spots, but they possess the dark brown stripe through the eye as in the young mallard. The bill is not widened at the tip, but it grows very rapidly." (Salvadori.)

This duck may be recognized in any plumage by the shape of its bill.

Subfamily MARILINÆ.

Genus MARILA Oken, 1817.

The members of this subfamily and genus differ from all other Philippine ducks in having a tuft of long feathers springing from the crown; the bill also is characteristic being short and wide and slightly wider at tip than at base.

Species.

a1. Back finely vermiculated with white. ... marila (p. 198) a2. Back uniform black or blackish brown. ... fuligula (p. 199)

164. MARILA MARILA (Linnæus).

SCAUP DUCK.

Anas marila Linnæus, Fauna Suecica, ed. 2, (1761), 39. Fuligula marila Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27, 355; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 223; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 182; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1907), 2, sec. A, 295.

Luzon (Parsons). Northern parts of Europe, Asia, and North America; wintering on the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas and in India, China, Japan, and Central America.

"Adult male.--Head, neck, upper part of breast and back black; sides of the head and upper neck glossed with green; rest of back and scapulars white, narrowly barred with black; rump, upper and under tail-coverts black; lower breast, abdomen, and sides white; vent somewhat grayish; sides with black barrings; upper wing-coverts blackish, finely vermiculated with white; secondaries white, forming the speculum, which is bounded below by a blackish band, in some specimens more or less freckled with white; tertials blackish with a green gloss, the largest ones more or less finely dusted with whitish; primaries grayish brown, from the fourth quill with a whitish area on inner web, tips black; marginal under wing-coverts grayish brown dusted with white, the remainder, as well as axillars, white; tail blackish. Bill and legs light lead-gray, webs and nail of bill blackish; iris yellow. Length, about 457; wing, 235; tail, 74; culmen, 46; tarsus, 35.