122 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Mallards were shot in six only of these years. From one to five were shot 

 yearly except in 1901 when eight were secured, and in 1897, nineteen. In the 

 fall of 190 1 there seems to have been a flight of these birds, for Mr. T. C. Wil- 

 son shot sixteen at Eagle Hill, Ipswich, during the week after the storm of 

 November 25th. This was the entire flock. Between October i8th and Nov- 

 ember 27th of the same year Dr. J. C. Phillips shot fifteen at Wenham Lake 

 and eight were shot at Chebacco Lake as above recorded. In the fall of 1904, 

 there was another flight of Mallards in Essex County, nineteen being shot on 

 October 23d, at Hood's Pond, four at Wenham Lake, one or two at Chebacco 

 Lake, and seven in the creeks near Ipswich Beach. A count at Faneuil Hall 

 Market, Boston, by Mr. J. H. Hardy, Jr., showed nearly one hundred Mallards 

 sent there from Essex County during this week. In November, 1904, I saw at 

 least fifteen of these noble birds on Spot Pond, just over the southwest border 

 of Essex County. 



The drake Mallard, the familiar barn-yard Duck, is easily recognized by his 

 beautiful green head, white neck-ring, and light gray back and sides. The 

 white in his wings and edges of the tail is also a good field mark. The female 

 and young resemble more closely the Black Duck, but are of a light buff color 

 and beautifully streaked. The two white bars in the wings and the pale 

 edging of the tail can be made out with a glass at a considerable distance. 



44 [133] Anas obscura Gmel. 

 Black Duck ; Dusky Duck ; "Summer Black Duck " ; " Spring Black Duck." 



Resident : common in summer ; abundant transient visitor ; common in 

 winter. 



Eggs: April and May. 



As the habits of the two races of Black Ducks are identical, I have con- 

 sidered them together, recording under the Red-legged subspecies my observa- 

 tions on their relative abundance and relation to each other. 



During the spring while the bogs among the Ipswich dunes are flooded 

 with water, the Black Duck is to be found feeding there in small numbers and 

 perhaps breeds. Thus the count kept in 1903 was as follows: April 19th, 24 ; 

 May 3d, 2 ; May loth, 1 1 ; May 24th, 7; May 30th, 7 ; June 7th, 5; June 14th, 

 5 ; June 25th, 7 ; July 12th, 7 in lagoon back of beach ; July 27th, 15 just off 

 beach. In the Topsfield meadows during these months several pairs can always 

 be discovered, and Mr. J. M. Dodge has found them with broods of ducklings. 



