. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. Vol. 79 26 1959 To the list of known examples we now have to add another most marked one in an eclipse drake European Green-winged Teal shot on Cottington Marsh, near Deal, Kent on 27th August, 1936. The bird was mounted by Mr. Guy Mannering and has now been presented by him to the Maidstone Museum. We are grateful to Mr. Eric Philp, ornithologist to the Museum for allowing us to examine and photograph the bird. Although in eclipse, it is possible to ascertain that the spot is in the identical position as in the other six examples, for in eclipse
. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. Vol. 79 26 1959 To the list of known examples we now have to add another most marked one in an eclipse drake European Green-winged Teal shot on Cottington Marsh, near Deal, Kent on 27th August, 1936. The bird was mounted by Mr. Guy Mannering and has now been presented by him to the Maidstone Museum. We are grateful to Mr. Eric Philp, ornithologist to the Museum for allowing us to examine and photograph the bird. Although in eclipse, it is possible to ascertain that the spot is in the identical position as in the other six examples, for in eclipse plumage there is a distinct division between the fine brown speckling of the neck and the subdued barring of. The white neck spot in an eclipse drake Teal. the upper breast. The spot lies anteriorly in the mid-line of the neck. It is much larger than in any other specimen we have seen, tending like all the others to be triangular in shape within the speckled area, the base forming a clear dividing line between the lower neck and upper breast. The base in this example measures 40 mm. and from apex to base is 16 mm. Following our paper, we have heard from Mr. Peter Scott on the subject and have his permission to publish his observations, which are of much interest. "I think the Mallards' neck ring is very likely to be analagous. Incidently, the Pintail also has a white neck ring which shows at certain stages of the eclipse (and is also shown by the most extreme plumage of the Kerguelan Pintail. See Delacour's "Waterfowl of the World" Vol. 2, plate XIV.) The extreme male of the New Zealand Brown Duck also shows it. The bird I regard as archaic, having been under reduced selective pressure in New Zealand (no mammals, few birds of prey) and probably not very far from the common ancestor of Mallard and Pintail—as it has many characters of Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability
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