COMMON MALLARD 



153 



on the abundant food found in these havens of our wildfowl. Its winter 

 range, however, is a wide one, and the hardy Mallard will winter even 

 in the far north provided it can find open water; it is found wintering 

 off the coasts of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, in the brackish water 

 at the outlets of the lakes and streams near the sea coasts. 



"When the Mallard drake courts, he swims restlessly about, follow- 

 ing or sidling up to a duck. She may lead him quite a chase before she 

 vouchsafes to acknowledge his presence, although he is continually bow- 

 ing to her, bobbing his head up and down in nervous jerks so that the 

 yellow bill dips into the water for a quarter of its length and comes up 

 dripping. He also rears himself up in the water and from time to time 

 displays his breast. She occasionally turns her head to one side and 

 carelessly dabbles her bill in the water, but sooner or later, if all goes 

 well, she begins to bow also, less vigorously at first not touching the 

 water at all and to the empty space in front of her. Suddenly she turns 

 and the pair bow to each other in the same energetic nervous jerks, and, 

 unless a rival appears to spoil the situation, the drake has won his suit" 

 (Townsend, 1916). Often, courtship is conducted largely on the wing. 

 Bent (1923) writes that as many as three males may be seen "in ardent 

 pursuit of one female, flying about, high in the air, circling over the 

 marshes in rapid flight and quacking loudly; finally the duck flies up to 

 the drake of her choice, touches him with her bill, and the two fly off 

 together, leaving the unlucky suitors to seek other mates." 



The Mallard generally 

 builds its nest on or near the 

 edges of prairie ponds or 

 sloughs where the ground is 

 dry or only slightly marshy. 

 It does, however, often nest 

 in the open prairie, fre- 

 quently at long distances 

 from any water. The nest it- 

 self is usually a hollow in the 

 ground, well concealed, and 

 lined with broken flags, reeds 

 or convenient material from 

 the immediate vicinity, and 

 also with down and feathers 

 from the mother's breast. 

 Normally only one set of eggs 

 is laid each season and the 

 number may range from 6 to 

 15 but the usual clutch is 

 from 8 to 10. The eggs vary 

 in colour from light greenish 

 buff to light greyish buff and 

 average 2.27 by 1.64 inches in 



