MALLARD. 103 



planation. The Mallard walks with ease, and can also 

 run with considerable speed. On the water it moves with 

 grace, and when seeking the seeds, roots, mollusks, vari- 

 ous grasses, etc., on which it feeds, tilts up the hinder 

 part of the body and digs on the bottom with its bill. It 

 never dives, and when wounded tries to skulk away; per- 

 haps as a last resort struggles to disappear beneath the 

 surface, with, however, but poor results. 



The Mallard is a very noisy Duck, and its loud quack- 

 ing is one of the familiar sounds heard in the marshes 

 during the winter. It is also very sociable and the 

 little companies keep close together as they swim along, 

 for even when feeding the birds rarely separate from each 

 other for any distance. They are continually in motion, 

 poking their bills into the soft mud, and sifting it through 

 the mandibles. They feed mostly at night, but at the 

 same time are equally active by day, although, if the 

 weather is warm and calm, they are in the habit of tak- 

 ing a nap in the sun's rays, having one or more of their 

 number, hoAvever, to act as sentinels and announce any 

 approaching danger. 



The Mallard is one of the commonest of our Water 

 Fowl, and, from its large size and generally well-flavored 

 flesh, is eagerly sought after. This Duck interbreeds 

 with other species, and hybrids are frequently shot, 

 bearing unmistakable evidence of their mixed parentage. 

 Some of these are very beautiful birds, and in the days 

 when hybridism was little understood or suspected, cer- 

 tain ones were described as distinct. One of these, and 

 perhaps the most beautiful of all, was called by Audubon 

 Brewer's Duck (Anas breiveri) probably a cross between 

 the Mallard and the Dusky Duck. Occasionally along 

 the Atlantic coast a Duck is shot that is larger than the 

 Mallard, with the head and part of the neck black with 



