172 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 
gray, the hind part of the back brownish black ; the 
rump all round and the upper and lower tail coverts, 
bluish black ; tail brownish gray, the feathers margin- 
ed with paler. Length to end of tail, twenty-one and 
three-fourths inches: extent of wings thirty-five ; 
weight one pound ten ounces. 
Adult Female. Considerably smaller. Bill, dusky 
along the ridge , dull yellowish orange on the sides ; 
iris hazel , feet of a fainter tint than in the male ;: 
upper part of the head brownish black, the feathers edged 
with light reddish brown, a streak over the eye, the 
cheeks, the upper part of the neck all round, light 
yellowish red, tinged with grayand marked with small 
longitudinal dusky streaks, which are fainter on the 
neck, the sides, all the upper parts, and the lower rump 
throat, that part being grayish white. The rest of the 
feathers brownish black, broadly margined with yellow- 
ish red. Wing coverts brownish gray, edged wit! 
paler ; the wing otherwise as in the male, but the 
speculum fainter, tail feathers and their coverts dusky, 
laterally obliquely indented with pale brownish red, and 
margined with reddish white. 
Length to end of tail nineteen and one-fourth inches ; 
extent of wings thirty-one. 
The Gadwall Duck is locally known as the Gray 
Duck, the latter name being the one it is almost always 
called by practical hunters. The ducks seldom frequent 
timbered country in the north, but much prefer open 
prairie ponds and lakes, marshy and grassy places to 
feed in. Their flight is similar to mallards, possibly a 
