It is now time, however, that I reverted to the explanation of those appearances in the young mallard, and also the pintail, and some other species, which would lead any unpractised observer to suppose that the excessive change from the fe- minine to the male garb was effected in these birds without a renewal of the feathers.

To a certain and very considerable extent, a change of hue unquestionably does take place ; but, without resorting to observation of the domestic breed for assistance in the elucidation of this difficulty, I think that a little attention to the following circumstances will go far to- wards determining that an actual moult had taken place, in which the birds had assumed an intermediate garb, in various degrees removed from the perfect livery, according to the respective vigour of each individual ; the completion of the colours being subsequently induced by a change of tint only in the same feathers.

Nothing is more usual than to perceive traces of the femi- nine markings in the new feathers which we see growing, in spring, on those Anatidae which are brought to market in a state of moult ; this fact being precisely the reverse of that already noticed, of the tinging of the old feathers with the new colouring matter, which is commonly visible in the same specimens.

The younger, therefore, a bird of this tribe might be at the time of undergoing its moult, the greater admixture of these traces of the female colouring we should expect to find upon its new plumage.

Supposing the young mallards, therefore, to have completed their moult at the time we see them, there is nothing to excite surprise at the considerable observed intermixture of the female markings.