MALLARD. 559 



ANAS BOSCHAS. 



MALLARD. 



(PLATE 63.) 



Anas fera, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 318 (1760). 



Auas boschas, Linn. St/st. Nat. i. p. 205 (1700) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Gmelin, Latham, Wilson, Dresser, Saunders, &c. 

 Anas adunca, Linn. St/st. Nat. i. p. 206 (1766). 

 Anas domestica, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 538 (1788). 

 Anas boscas (Linn.), Forst. Si/n. Cat. Brit. B. p. 35 (1817). 



The Mallard is par excellence the best known and most widely distributed 

 of the British Ducks during summer. It is generally distributed through- 

 out the British Islands, breeding in all suitable localities, including the 

 Hebrides, the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Ireland. In the breeding-season 

 it is most abundant in the northern portions of our islands, but in the 

 winter it is universally distributed, and then extends its range to the 

 Channel Islands. It frequents inland waters as well as the coast, and 

 in autumn great numbers from northern latitudes swell the ranks of the 

 indigenous birds. 



The Mallard is a circumpolar bird, though it is rarely if ever found 

 north of the Arctic circle. It breeds more or less abundantly throughout 

 thePalsearcticand Nearctic Regions; but in SouthemEurope, North Africa, 

 and the Southern States of America it is principally known as a winter 

 visitor. Its winter range in Africa extends to the Azores, Madeira, and 

 Canaries in the west, and as far south as Nubia in the east. In Asia it 

 extends to Persia, North India, China, and Japan. Its winter range on 

 the American continent extends southwards to Mexico, the West Indies, 

 and the northern portions of South America. The Mallard has no very 

 near ally. 



The formation of language is a process of evolution, and the meaning of 

 words, when it has been definitely settled by custom, must be accepted 

 without a too close inquiry into their derivation. The word horse is mas- 

 culine and mare is feminine ; but when we speak of twenty horses it is not 

 implied that there were no mares among them, the word horse being 

 applied by custom in a special generic sense to include both sexes, but to 

 exclude asses, cows, or any other quadruped. In precisely the same 

 manner the word Mallard is used in a special specific sense to include both 

 the male and female Wild Duck, to the exclusion of Shovellers, Pintails, 

 or any other species of bird. Mallard is a French word meaning drake, in 

 contradistinction to Canard, which means duk. Possibly the word Mallard 



