Species V. ANAS BOSCHAS. 



THE MALLARD. 



[Plate LXX. Fig. 7.] 



Lath. Sijn. iii., p. 489. — Bewick, ii., p. 291. — Le Canard Sauvage, Briss. vi., p. 

 318, 4.— Buff, ix., p. 115, pi. 7, 8.* 



The Mallard, or common Wild Drake, is so universally known as 

 scarcely to require a description. It measures twenty-four inches in 

 length, by three feet in extent, and weighs upwards of two pounds and 

 a half ;f the bill is greenish yellow ; irides hazel ; head and part of the 

 neck deep glossy changeable green, ending in a- narrow collar of white ; 

 the rest of the neck and breast are of a dark purplish chestnut ; lesser 

 wing coverts brown ash, greater crossed near the extremities with a 

 band of white, and tipped with another of deep velvety black ; below 

 this lies the speculum, or beauty spot, of a rich and splendid light 

 purple, with green and violet reflections, bounded on every side with 

 black ; quills pale brownish ash ; back brown, skirted with paler ; sca- 

 pulars whitish, crossed with fine undulating lines of black ; rump and 

 tail coverts black glossed with green, tertials very broad and pointed at 

 the ends ; tail consisting of eighteen feathers, whitish, centered with 

 brown ash, the four middle ones excepted, which are narrow, black 

 glossed with violet, remarkably concave, and curled upwards to a com- 

 plete circle ; belly and sides a fine gray, crossed by an infinite number 

 of fine waving lines, stronger and more deeply marked as they approach 

 the vent ; legs and feet orange red. 



The female has the plumage of the upper parts dark brown broadly 

 bordered with brownish yellow ; and the lower parts yellow ochre 

 spotted and streaked with deep brown ; the chin and throat for about 

 two inches, plain yellowish white ; wings, bill, and legs, nearly as in the 

 male. 



The windpipe of the male has a bony labyrinth, or bladder-like knob 



* Anas BoscJias, Gmel. Si/st. i., p. 538, No. 40.—Ind. Orn. p. 850, No. 'id.—Arcf. 

 Zool. No. 494.—^;-. Zool. No. 279.— Le Canard Sauvage, PL Enl. 116, male ; 777, 

 female. 



t Mr. Ord sliot a male on the Delaware, in the month of April, which -weighed 

 three pounds five ounces ; and he saw them in Florida, in the winter, when they 

 are fatter than in the spring, of greater weight. In the month of March he shot 

 two females, in East Florida, weighing two pounds each. 



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