MALLARD DUCK. 33 



they had been frolicking in wheat and cornfields, 

 gorging themselves for six weeks. 



The different methods of hunting mallards will be 

 found throughout this book, under appropriate head- 

 ings. 



Anas BoscJias : Bill, about the length of the head, 

 higher than broad at the base, depressed and widened 

 toward the end, rounded at the tip. Upper mandible, 

 with a dorsal outline, sloping and a little concave ; the 

 ridge of the base broad and flat toward the end, broadly 

 convex, as are the sides ; the edges soft and rather ob- 

 tuse ; the marginal lamellae transverse, 50 on each ; the 

 ungines oval, curved, abrupt at the end. Nasal groove 

 elliptical, sub-basal, filled by the soft membrane of the 

 bill; nostrils sub-basal, placed near the ridge, longi- 

 tudinal, elliptical, pervious. Lower mandible, slightly 

 curved upward with the angles very long, narrow and 

 rather pointed ; the lamellae about sixty. 



Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed; neck 

 rather long and slender ; body, full, depressed ; feet 

 short, stout, placed a little behind the centre of the 

 body ; legs bare a little above the joint ; tarsus short, a 

 little compressed anteriorly with scutilla, laterally and 

 behind with small reticulated scales. Hind toe extreme- 

 ly small with a very narrow membrane ; third toe long^ 

 est ; fourth a little shorter, but longer than the second, 

 all the toes connected by reticulated membranes ; the 

 outer with a thick margin, the inner with a margin ex- 

 tended into a slightly lobed web. Claws small, arched, 

 compressed, rather acute ; that of the middle toe much 

 longer with dilated, thin, inner edge. 



Plumage, dense, soft, elastic ; of the head and neck, 

 short, blended and splendent ; of the other parts in 



