368 MALLARD. 



more laboured than that of most of the Ducks. The 

 nest is generally placed in the long grass or heath out 

 in the open, and is made of dead grass and reeds, and 

 lined with down. 



Seven to nine eggs are laid towards the end of May 

 of a huffish-white colour, faintly tinged with olive. 



The Shoveller is a much smaller bird than the 

 Mallard, and is easily distinguished by its peculiarly 

 large, broad and spoon-shaped bill. The head and 

 neck are black, tinged with purple and green ; the 

 back is brown, " glossed with purple and green on the 

 rump and upper tail-cover" ; the breast is white, and the 

 wings bluish grey with a white bar across, the quill 

 brown, tail brown edged with white ; the under parts 

 below the breast are reddish brown, shading into white 

 and then into black beneath the tail. 



This bird can only be kept in confinement where 

 there is a pond with plenty of duckweed for it. 



MALLARD. 



ANAS BOSCHAS. 



Family Anatid^. Genus Anas. 



Wild Duck. 



This bird is the commonest of all our Ducks. It is 

 a resident bird, breeding in suitable localities through- 

 out the British Isles, but its numbers are enormously 

 increased by migration in winter. It is said, however, 

 to be slowly but surely decreasing on account of the 

 enormous numbers which are shot and decoyed every 

 year. 



The Mallard is the species from which our farmyard 



