GADWALL. 



gray duck. 



Anas strepera. 



Char. Upper parts brown, barred and vermiculated with white, giving 

 a general appearance of brownish gray ; head and neck light brown, 

 mottled with darker ; wings brown and black, wing-patch white ; rump 

 black ; tail-feathers brown, edged with paler ; lower neck and breast dark 

 gray; belly white, with fine wavy lines of gray; bill lead blue; legs dull 

 orange. The female is darker in color, the dark-brown tints prevailing 

 above, the white below. Length about 21 inches. 



Nest. Usually near the water, though often some distance away, placed 

 under a bush or amid a tussock of rank herbage ; made of grass and lined 

 with feathers, — sometimes a mere depression in the soil, lined with 

 feathers. 



Eggs. 8-13; pale buff, tinged with green when fresh; 2.10 X 1.50. 



The Gadwall inhabits the northern regions of both conti- 

 nents, but does not in America, according to Richardson, 

 proceed farther than the 68th parallel, and in Europe it seems 

 not to advance higher than Sweden. In the Russian Empire 

 it extends over most of the latitudes of the European and 

 Siberian part, except the east of the latter and Kamtschatka. 

 In migrations it passes chiefly into the warmer parts of Europe, 

 being very rare in England, but common on the coasts of 



