288 BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE MALLARD. 



COMMON WILD DUCK. 



(A /MX /JOXC/MX, Linn. Canard sauvage, Temm. 



WEIGHS from thirty-six to forty ounces, and 

 measures twenty-three inches in length, and thirty- 

 five in breadth. The bill is of a yellowish green 

 colour, not very flat, about an inch broad, and two 

 and a half long, from the corners of the mouth to 

 the tip of the nail : the head and upper half of the 

 neck are of a glossy deep changeable green, ter- 

 minated in the middle of the neck by a white collar, 

 with which it is nearly encircled : the lower part of 

 the neck, the breast, and shoulders, are of a deep 

 vinous chesnut: the covering scapular feathers are 

 of a kind of silvery white; those underneath rufous; 

 and both are prettily crossed with small waved 

 threads of brown : wing coverts ash : quills brown ; 

 and between these intervenes the beauty-spot 

 (common in the Duck tribe) which crosses the 



