32 AXAS BOSCHAS. 



pressed, and black. Female loith the hill yreenish-grcij ; the 

 feathers of the upper parts dusky brown, edged with pale 

 reddish; the throat ichitish; the loiver j^c^'ts greyish-ijclloic, 

 streaked and spotted with dusky; the medial tail-feathers 

 straight. 



Male. — Our common Wild Duck, or Mallard, if not one 

 of the most elegantly formed, is certainly one of tlie most 

 beautifully coloui-ed species of its family. The body is of an 

 oblong form, considerably elongated, somewhat depressed ; 

 the neck rather long, narrowed toward the head, which is of 

 moderate size, oblong, and compressed. The bill is al)out 

 the same length as the head, of greater height than breadth 

 at the base, depressed and a little widened toward the end, 

 Avhich is broadly rounded. The upper mandible has the 

 dorsal line descending and a little concave, the frontal angles 

 small and pointed, the ridge flat at the base, gradually nar- 

 rowed, the edges marginate, a narrow groove parallel to 

 them near the end, the unguis oblongo-obovate, rather small, 

 decurved at the end, the lamellae transverse, thin, little pro- 

 minent, not projecting beyond the margin, and about fifty. 

 The lower mandible is a little re-arcuate, llattened, with the 

 unguis broadly obovato-triangular, the erect, inclinate edges 

 with about sixty external lamellee. 



The nostrils are elliptical, sub-basal, two-twelfths and a 

 half long, near the ridge, in the anterior part of the sub- 

 elliptical nasal membrane. Eyes rather small. Aperture of 

 ear small. The legs are so placed that the body is kept in a 

 nearly horizontal position. The tibia is bare for nearly half 

 an inch ; the tarsus short, stout, compressed, reticulate, and 

 having eighteen scutella. The hind toe, extremely small 

 and elevated, so that its claw scarcely reaches the ground, 

 has a slight compressed inferior lobe. The anterior toes are 

 rather long, the inner with eighteen scutella and basal 

 scales, the medial with twenty-eight, the outer with forty 

 oblique scutella ; the membranes full. The claws are small, 

 arched, compressed, rather acute, that of the middle toe 

 larger, with the inner edge dilated. 



The plumage is dense and elastic, on the head and upper 



