DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [133] 



Common Mallard: 



Anas flatyrhynchos platyrhynchos (Linnaeus) 



DESCRIPTION. "Male in winter and breeding plumage: Four of the black upper tail 

 coverts recurved; head and neck, down to white collar, rich iridescent green; chest 

 dark chestnut brown; belly and sides gray; wing with iridescent violet green spec- 

 ulum bordered by black and white bars; rump and upper and lower tail coverts black. 

 Male in summer plumage: Like female. Female and immature: Entire plumage variously 

 mottled, scalloped, and streaked with dusky and buff, except for plain buffy chin and 

 white under surface of wing; buff predominating on belly; wing as in male." (Bailey) 

 Downy young: "The downy young mallard when first hatched, is richly colored; the 

 upper parts, the crown and back, are 'sepia* or 'clove brown,' darkest on the crown; 

 the under parts, including the sides of the head and a broad superciliary stripe, are 

 'napthalene yellow' more or less clouded, especially on the cheeks with 'honey 

 yellow' or intermediate shades; there is a loral and postocular stripe and an auricular 

 spot of 'clove brown'; four yellowish spots, two on the scapulars and two on the 

 rump, relieve the color of the back." (Bent) Si^e: "Length 10-15, wing 10.15-11.00, 

 bill 1.00-1.40." (Bailey) Nest: Usually on the ground near the edge of a slough or 

 lake but occasionally at least in the timber some distance from the water; sometimes 

 in trees, usually in a huge old crotch near the ground; generally well lined with 

 down. Eggs: 8 to 11, occasionally more, greenish buff to nearly white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: In North America south to Virginia, Missouri, Kansas, 

 New Mexico, and Lower California. Winters over practically entire continent. In 

 Oregon: Permanent resident over entire State. 



OF ALL the waterfowl native to North America, the Common Mallard 

 (Plate 2.2., A), or "Greenhead," is undoubtedly our best known and most 

 desirable game bird. Found over the entire northern hemisphere, it is 

 universally distributed in North America from the Arctic southward to 

 Virginia and Missouri during the breeding season, and over the entire 

 continent where there is open water during the winter months. It is an 

 exceedingly adaptable bird, accommodating itself to conditions found in 

 almost any territory, so long as there is some water present. It breeds in 

 tiny pot holes and swamps in the Mississippi Valley, in and about the 

 great tule marshes of eastern Oregon, and along streams anywhere in the 

 State. It has been recorded by practically every worker in our territory 

 since Lewis and Clark (1814) noted it January i, 1806, at the mouth of 

 the Columbia. 



In the eastern part of the State, as a usual thing, the Common Mallard 

 builds an orthodox and regulation mallard nest on the ground, usually 

 quite close to water, and lines the nest and covers the eggs carefully with 

 the soft fluffy down from the female's breast. Egg dates vary from May 6 

 to June 10. In western Oregon, it accommodates itself to the timbered 

 conditions and often builds its nest at the base of a huge tree, or even in 

 the big crotch of an old Oregon maple, up to 10 or 12. feet from the ground. 

 Despite this most unducklike behavior the mallard thrives under almost 

 all conditions. During the summer, one is likely to run across a female 

 with her little fleet of ducklings on any body of water, and in the winter, 



