MARMARONETTA ANGUSTIROSTRIS 201 



The Mallard is shy and wary, flies and swims well, and is sociable 

 and gregarious in its habits, associating with other species of Ducks 

 as well as with its own kind. It feeds almost exclusively during the 

 night, and besides grain, seeds, and other vegetable matter, will eat 

 insects, worms, molluscs, and indeed almost anything that comes in 

 its way. The note of the Drake is a low and subdued croak, that of 

 the Duck a loud and strident quack. Its nest — which is usually placed 

 on the ground, though at times in a tree, the deserted nest of some 

 other bird even being occasionally made use of — is composed prin- 

 cipally of rough grasses, well lined with down, and its eggs, eight 

 to twelve in number, are dull greyish-green, and measure about 

 58 X 42 mm. 



In a wild state the Mallard has been known to interbreed with 

 the Pintail {D. acuta) and the Gadwall (C. streperus), as well as, it 

 is said, with one or two other species of Duck. In captivity it will 

 interbreed with almost any Duck. 



MARMARONETTA ANGUSTIROSTRIS (Menetries). 

 MAEBLED DUCK. 



Anas angustirostris, Minctr. Cat. Beds. Caiic. p. 58 (1832j ; Kocnig, 



J. f. 0. 1888, p. 285 ; Whitakcr, Ibis, 1895, p. 104 ; Eiiangci; J. /. 0. 



1900, p. 71. 

 Marmaronetta angustirostris, lieichcnb. Av. Syst. Nat. p. ix(1852); 



Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii, p. 321 ; Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. 



Ois. ii, p. 380 (1867) ; Kocnig, J.f. 0. 1893, p. 95. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from North Tunisia. 



General colour light-brown, mottled and marbled with grey; the upper- 

 parts darker, and the underparts lighter ; the back with round whitish spots 

 on the tips of the feathers ; the breast and sides whitish, barred with light 

 brown . 



Iris brown ; bill bluish-grey, and blackish on the culmen and tip ; feet 

 dusky grey. 



Total length 16 inches, wing 8, culmen 190, tarsus 1-40. 



Adult female similar to the male, but rather duller in coloration. 



The Marbled Duck, though not abundant in Tunisia, is to be 

 found there, according to Blanc, in certain numbers throughout the 



