36 Birds of Colorado 



b^ Wing-coverts sky blue (Querquedrda). 



a* A white patch on the sides of the face. 



Q. discors, $ p. 43. 

 b' No white on head. 



a* Below clear cinnamon. Q. cyanoptera, S p. 44. 



b* Below dusky and dark buf5. Q. cyanoptera, ? p. 44. 



c* Below dusky and grey. Q. discors, ? p. 43. 



c. Tail-feathers wide and rounded ; head distinctly crested {Aix). 



A. sponsa, p. 48 

 Genus ANAS. 



Bill about as long as the head or longer, exceeding the tarsus, 

 broad and with the sides more or less parallel, nail narrow, less 

 than one-third as wide as the end of the bill ; nostrils high up in 

 the basal half of the bill ; tail rounded, less than half the wing, of 

 16 to 18 pointed feathers; specukun \aolet, framed in black and 

 white. 



Three species in the United States. 



Mallard. Anas platyrhynchos. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 132 — Colorado Records — Henshaw 75, p. 472 

 (Anas boschas) ; Drew 81, p. 142 ; 85, p. 18 ; Allen & Brewster 83, 

 p. 198 ; Beckham 85, p. 144 ; Morrison 88, p. 140 ; 89, p. 148 ; Kellogg 

 90, p. 90 ; McGregor 97, p. 38 ; Cooke 97, pp. 53, 194; 06 p. 22 ; Dille 

 03, p. 74 ; Henderson 03, p. 234 ; 09, p. 225 ; Rockwell 08, p. 157 ; 

 Warren 09, p. 13 ; 10, p. 29. 



Description. — Male in breeding dress — Whole head and upper-neck 

 glossy green, followed by a white ring ; back dark greyish-brown 

 becoming black on the rump ; the longer upper tail-coverts recurved ; 

 tail-feathers mostly whitish ; breast rich chestnut, belly greyish-white 

 finely mottled with dusky ; under tail-coverts black ; speculum rich 

 purple bordered in front and behind by narrow bands of black and 

 white ; iris brown, bill greenish-yellow, feet orange-red. Length 23'0 ; 

 wing ll'O; tail 4; cuknen 2'25 ; tarsus 1"75. 



After the breeding season, in early summer, the male moults into 

 a plumage closely resembling the female, and after the body-moult 

 is complete, loses its quills and is unable to fly. The second or breeding 

 plimiage is again assimied in the fall. 



The female has the top of the head streaked with fuscous and buffy, 

 the rest of the plumage mottled, scolloped and streaked with dusky 

 and grey, more greyish below ; the chin is plain buffy, and the under- 

 surface of the wing white ; speculiun as in the breeding male ; bill 

 dusky, blotched with orange ; dimensions smaller than the male — wing 

 about 10-50. 



