380 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family ANATID.E. Genus ANAS. 



Subfamily 



MALLARD. 



ANAS BOSCHAS (Linnmis). 

 PLATE XXXVII. 



Anas boschas, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 205 (1766) ; Macgill, Brit. B. v. p. 31 (1852) ; 



Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 469, pi. 422 (1873) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 559 



(1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. viii. (1888) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. B. 



p. 237 (1893). 

 Anas boscas (Forst. ex Linn.), Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4. iv. p. 358 (1885) ; Salvadori, Cat. 



B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 189 (1895) ; Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. ii. p. 269 (1896). 



Geographical distribution British ; The Mallard, or Wild Duck, is 

 the commonest species of fresh-water Duck in our area, and generally distributed 

 throughout the British Islands, breeding in every part suited to its needs, including 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands, the Hebrides and Ireland. It is much rarer in the 

 extreme north of Scotland during winter ; otherwise it is even more widely dis- 

 persed at that season, then extending to the Channel Islands, whilst its numbers 

 are largely increased by migrants from more northern regions. It frequents the 

 coasts as well as inland swamps and waters. Foreign : Palsearctic and Nearctic 

 regions; Oriental and Neotropical regions in winter. It breeds throughout 

 Europe south of the Arctic Circle, but only sparingly in the basin of the Mediter- 

 ranean ; and throughout Asia, south of that limit (but only locally and in small 

 numbers) to Cashmere and probably Mongolia. In the Nearctic region it breeds 

 from the Arctic Circle southwards to the United States. Its winter range in 

 Europe extends to North Africa, as far south as Madeira, the Canaries, and the 

 Azores (where a few pairs are said to breed) in the west, and to Nubia in the east. 

 In Asia it is found during that season in Persia, Northern India, China, and 

 Japan ; and in America, in the Southern States, Mexico, the West Indies, and 

 the extreme northern portion of South America. 



Allied forms. Anas wyvilliana, an inhabitant of the Sandwich Islands, 

 with a greenish blue speculum and the black under tail coverts (in the adult male) 

 mottled with chestnut. A. laysanensis, an inhabitant of the Laysan Islands, 

 distinguished by the ring of white feathers round the eyes. Both these species, 

 together with the Mallard have the central tail feathers curled upwards. 



