412 MALLARD. 



of time — from Turkestan to China and Japan ; it breeds as far south 

 as Cashmere, and visits India in the cold season. It inhabits the 

 temperate portions of North America, wintering as far south as 

 Panama ; but in the north-east of that continent its place is in some 

 degree taken by the closely-allied Dusky Duck, Anas obscura, both 

 sexes of which much resemble the female of our bird. 



Incubation often begins as early as March in the southern counties 

 of England, and by the middle of April even on the bleak moors of 

 Northumberland. The nest, made of grass and lined with down, is 

 usually on the ground, near fresh water, though not unfrequently 

 at a distance from it ; but grain-fields, hedge-rows, stacks of faggots, 

 forks or hollows of trees, and even the deserted nests of other birds 

 are more or less resorted to. The eggs, 8-12 in number, are pale 

 greyish-green or greenish-buff: average measurements 2*25 by i*6 

 in. Two months or ten weeks elapse before the young can fly. In 

 the wild state the Mallard is monogamous, but the domestic forms 

 which have sprung from it are all polygamous ; and, as remarked by 

 that keen observer Mr. C. M. Adamson, the half-wild breeds get 

 duller in colour, and have coarser feet, while the wings, which in a 

 really wild bird reach nearly to the end of the tail, become shorter 

 in proportion to the body. In its food the Mallard is almost om- 

 nivorous, and it is strictly a night-feeder 



The male in full plumage has the bill yellowish ; head and neck 

 glossy-green, followed by a narrow white ring ; hind-neck and breast 

 dark chestnut ; across the secondaries a greenish-purple speculum, 

 fringed above and below with white ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 bluish-black, as are the four middle up-curled tail-feathers, the rest 

 being greyish ; belly and flanks greyish- white ; under tail-coverts 

 velvet-black ; legs, toes and webs orange-red. Length 24 in. ; wing 

 1 1 "5 in. Towards the end of May the assumption of female plumage 

 by the male commences, and the quills are cast simultaneously, so 

 that he is incapable of flight ; but by the middle of October 

 he has again acquired his full dresG. Very old drakes, in semi- 

 captivity at least, lose the white collar, and half-bred birds often do 

 not show it at all. The female is smaller ; has a greenish bill ; 

 crown dark brown ; general plumage mottled-brown and buff- alar 

 speculum dark green. The drake's plumage is occasionally assumed. 

 The young at first resemble the female. In a wild state the Mallard 

 not unfrequently breeds with the Pintail, and in captivity with almost 

 any Duck ; varieties are not uncommon, but wild albinoes are rare. 



