THE TRUE DUCKS. 27 I 



is therefore as in the male, but it is not so bright and is more 

 broadly bordered with black ; the inner secondaries bordered 

 with rufous, like the scapulars ; lower back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts like the upper back ; tail-feathers ashy-whitish, cen- 

 tred with dark brown, which is more or less broken up into 

 rufous markings ; under surface of body yellowish-buff ; the 

 throat uniform, but the sides of the face and neck streaked 

 like the head ; the chest and sides of the body mottled 

 with dark brown centres to the feathers ; fore neck and chest 

 tinged with chestnut ; under tail-coverts white, with black 

 streaks ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white. Total length, 

 20 inches; culmen, 2*1; wing, 10*3; tail, 3*4; tarsus, 1*5. 



Young Males and Young Females. Almost alike in plumage, 

 and at first resembling the old female in general appearance, 

 but the darker head and blacker appearance of the back are 

 generally sufficient to distinguish the males, which have also a 

 clearly indicated dark eye-stripe. Young birds also seem to 

 be much more plentifully streaked with brown on the under- 

 parts. For a short period in the summer, males assume a 

 plumage only to be distinguished from that of the female by 

 its blacker appearance above, the feathers of the back being 

 edged with rufous, while the crown and a broad stripe through 

 he eye are also black ; the quills are fully moulted, as well as 

 he body feathers, and the full plumage is again assumed by a 

 direct moult. 



Hybrids. These are so many that it is impossible to enu- 

 merate them all here. Crossings with at least a dozen other 

 species of Ducks are recorded by Count Salvadori. 



Range in Great Britain. Of all the fresh-water Ducks, the 

 Mallard is the commonest, and though it was more plentiful 

 in former days, there are still so many places where it is 

 encouraged to breed, that it is extremely numerous in some 

 districts, and every winter there is a vast accession of numbers 

 due to arrivals from the Continent. At this season of the year, 

 the species quits its northern habitat, and is absent from many 

 of the northern districts of Scotland and its islands. It 

 bretds, according to Mr. Ussher, in every county in Ireland. 



