COMMON MALLARD 149 



RIVER AND POND DUCKS 

 OR 



SURFACE-FEEDING DUCKS 



Subfamily Anatinae 



Common Mallard 



Anas platyrhynchos platrhynchos 

 (a-nas, pla-ti-ring-kos) 



Colour Plate No. 6. Downy Young No. 33. Hybrids No. 36. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Anas, Latin, meaning a duck; platyrhynchos, from Greek platys, meaning broad, 

 and rhynchos, meaning beak. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



IN GENERAL USE: Grcenhead; greenhead mallard; mallard; mallard duck; wild 

 mallard. IN LOCAL USE: Black duck; canard francis (French duck); canard gris 

 (grey duck); common wild duck; English duck; French duck; frostybeak; gibier 

 gris (grey fowl); green mallard; grey duck (female); grey mallard; ice-breaker; 

 ice duck, ice mallard, frosty-beak, snow mallard, twister, yellow-legged mallard, and 

 ringneck; snow mallard; sookie (female); stock duck; susies (females) twister; wild 

 drake; wild duck; yellow-legged mallard; yellowlegs. (NOTE. The names ice-breaker, 

 ice duck, ice mallard, frosty-beak, snow mallard, twister, yellow-legged mallard, and 

 yellowlegs, are all applied to late migrants previously thought to be a variety 

 distinct from the early autumn birds.) 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULT MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: Head and neck, rich iridescent green, with 

 purplish gloss in certain lights, terminating at base of neck in narrow white collar, 

 incomplete behind; crown, blackish green; bill, yellow, sometimes dusky on ridge, 

 earlier in season olive or greenish yellow, about as long as head; nail, black; eye, 

 brown to dark brown. Body. Chest, rich purple chestnut, almost meeting on 

 lower hindneck, feathers with lighter edgings which tend to wear off towards 

 spring; back, brown, darker in middle; scapulars, greyish white, outer ones chestnut 

 brown, all finely vermiculated with dusky; rump, glossy black with bluish-green 

 reflections; sides, breast, belly and flanks, white, finely vermiculated with dusky, 

 producing silvery-grey effect; jeet, bright reddish orange or yellowish, earlier in sea- 

 son, duller reddish orange. Tail, brownish grey, outer feathers mostly white, central 

 ones broadly edged with white; upper and under coverts, glossy black, middle 

 feathers of upper coverts curled upwards. Wings. All coverts, brownish ashy, greater 

 coverts white toward ends but tipped with black; primaries, greyish brown, darker 

 at tips; secondaries, with speculum of iridescent purplish blue, bordered in front 

 and behind with black and white bars and inwardly with black; tertials, long and 

 broad, grey sometimes tipped with whitish or buffy, chestnut brown on outer webs, 

 varying to dusky with olive tinge, and sometimes with very little chestnut; lining 

 and axillars, white. 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: The moult into the eclipse starts in early June or July, and 

 is usually complete in August, when the plumage closely resembles that of the 



