NATATORES — ANATIDiE — ANAS. 347 



THE MALLARD. 



Anas boschas. 

 plate cvi1i. fig. 240. 



Anas boschas, Lin. p. 205. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 563. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 8, p. 112, pi. 60, fig. 7. 



Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 383. 

 Boschas domeslica. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 442. Audbbon, Birds of Am. Vol. 6, p. 236, pi. 385. 

 Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 378. 



Characteristics. Mirror violet, bounded by black and white ; rump blackish. Male : head 

 and neck green ; a white collar ; four middle tail-coverts recurved. 

 Female and young, wholly brownish, varied with yellowish and blackish. 

 Length, 23-0. 



Description. Bill subequal with the head, flattened, and somewhat dilated towards the 

 end. Tibia bare a short distance from the joint. Tail rounded, of sixteen feathers. 



Color. Male : Bill yellowish : feet orange red. Head and neck deep green, with a white 

 ring beneath ; neck and breast dark chesnut ; upper part of back, wing-coverts and quills 

 ash-brown of different shades ; rump and upper tail-coverts blackish green ; some of the outer 

 scapulars chesnut, with darker transverse lines. Mirror with purple and green reflections. 

 Sides of the rump, and interior of the wings, white. Female, reddish brown, spotted with 

 dusky ; beneath yellowish grey, obscurely spotted with brownish black. 



Length, 24-0-25-0. 



This is the well known original on both continents of our common domestic Duck, of which 

 we have now so many varieties. Messrs. Cooper and Nuttall have noticed a large wild 

 variety ? measuring 30 inches. In these the primaries are white, and the tail-feathers grey. 



The Mallard is common about most of the lakes in the interior of the State, and also on 

 the seacoast. It leaves us in the autumn for the South, and has been observed from Mexico 

 to the 68th parallel. 



{EXTRALIMITAL.) 



A. breweri. (Atjd. B. of Am. Vol. 6, p. 252, pi. 387.) Mirror green. Head and neck green; pale 

 yellowish on the sides; rump and upper and under tail-coverts black: a light yellowish collar 

 round the neck. General hue dusky, finely waved with grey. Length, 23*0. Louisiana. 



A. moschala, Lin. Glossy black: a papillary naked red skin surrounding the eyes, on the cheeks, 

 and base of the bill. Length, 25-0. Brazil. A few observed on the coast of the Southern States, 

 Domesticated. 



44* 



