172 



WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



gray, the hind part of the back brownish black ; the 

 rump all round and the upper and lower tail coverts, 

 bluish black ; tail brownish gray, the feathers margin- 

 ed with paler. Length to end of tail, twenty-one and 

 three-fourths inches ; extent of wings thirty-five ; 

 weight one pound ten ounces. 



Adult Female. Considerably smaller. Bill, dusl^ 

 along the ridge , dull yellowish orange on the sides ; 

 iris hazel ; feet of a fainter tint than in the male ; 

 upper part of the head brownish black, the feathers edged 

 with light reddish brown, a streak over the eye, the 

 cheeks, the upper part of the neck all round, light 

 yellowish red, tinged with gray and marked with small 

 longitudinal dusky streaks, which are fainter on the 

 neck, the sides, all the upper parts, and the lower rump 

 throat, that part being grayish white. The rest of the 

 feathers brownish black, broadly margined with yellow- 

 ish red. Wing coverts brownish gray, edged with 

 paler ; the wing otherwise as in the male, but the 

 speculum fainter, tail feathers and their coverts dusky, 

 laterally obliquely indented with pale brownish red, and 

 margined with reddish white. 



Length to end of tail nineteen and one-fourth inches ; 

 extent of wings thirty-one. 



The Gadwall Duck is locally known as the Gray 

 Duck, the latter name being the one it is almost always 

 call ed by practical hunters. The ducks seldom frequent 

 timbered country in the north, but much prefer open 

 prairie ponds and lakes, marshy and grassy places to 

 feed in. Their flight is similar to mallards, possibly a 



