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THE COMMON WILD DUCK. 213 
Numerous flocks of Ducks of various species frequent the sea- 
shores and the rivers of all parts of the world. No family of Birds 
seems more profusely disiributed over the world of waters ; and 
some of them are remarkable for the brilliant colouring of their 
plumage. On land, the waddling gait of Ducks is anything but 
graceful, but in the water their appearance is alert and elegant. 
Look at them as they glide lightly over the surface of the 
stream, or mark them as they plunge into its bosom with a splash, 
either to bathe themselves or seek their food. All their move 
ments here are executed with graceful ease, and it is easy to see 
that they are in their natural element. They love to paddle in 
the mud, where they find a sufficient supply of fcod to satisfy 
their voracity. But no description of animal matter comes amiss to 
them, whether water-insects, worms, slugs, snails, small frogs, bread, 
fresh or tainted meat, fish living or dead. ‘They are such gluttons, 
that we have seen two of them fighting and disputing for more than 
an hour over the skin of an eel, or some other garbage, which one 
of them had partly swallowed, whilst his antagonist was dragging 
at the other end. To this division of the Anatidz belongs the 
Mallard or Wild Duck, which may be considered typical of the 
others, and which is generally supposed to be the ancestor of the 
Domestic Duck. 
THE Common Witp Duck or MAaLtiarb (Axas boschas). 
The plumage of the Wild Duck is dense and elastic. The head, 
throat, and upper part of the neck of the male are adorned with 
hues of a bright emerald green, shot with violet; its breast is of a 
purplish brown; its back is ashy brown, sprinkled with greyish- 
white zigzag bars; the four feathers in the middle of the tail, 
curling up at the end in a semicircle, are of a blackish hue with 
a green reflection ; its length is about twenty-four inches; length 
of wing, thirty-five inches. The female, which is always smaller 
than her mate, does not possess the bright colours which adorn 
the drake. Her plumage is brown and russet grey. Individuals 
sometimes, though seldom, vary. Sir William Jardine states that 
he has seen drakes having the upper parts of a bluish grey, de- 
creasing in depth of colouring down the breast; and Mr. Yarrell 
mentions two instances in which females of this species have as- 
sumed, to a considerable extent, the appearance and plumage of 
the Mallard, even to the curling feathers of the tail. On the other 
hand, the male plumage, according to Mr. Waterton, undergoes a 
