232 



DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS. 



THE COMMON DUCK, OR MALLARD. 



ENGLISH SYNONYMS. Mallard : McGillivray, Jenyns. Common Wild 



Duck: Montagu, Selby. 

 LATIN SYNONYM. Anas boschas : Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte, 



Temminck. 

 FRENCH SYNONYM. Canard sauvage : Temminck. 



The plumage of the Wild Duck is dense and elastic. The head, 

 throat, and upper part of the neck of the male are adorned with 

 hues of a bright emerald green, shot with violet ; its breast is of a 

 purplish brown ; its back is ashy brown, sprinkled with greyish- 

 white zigzag bars ; the four feathers in the middle of the tail, 

 curling up at the end in a semicircle, are of a blackish hue with 

 a green reflection ; its length is about twenty-four inches ; length 

 of wing, thirty-five inches. The female, which is always smaller 

 than her mate, does not possess the bright colours which adorn 

 the Drake. Her plumage is brown and russet grey. Individuals 



Fig. 86. Wild Ducks (Anas boscluis). 



sometimes, though seldom, vary. Sir William Jardine states 

 that he has seen Drakes having the upper parts of a bluish grey, 

 decreasing in depth of colouring down the breast ; and Mr. 

 Yarrell mentions two instances in which females of this species 

 have assumed, to a considerable extent, the appearance and plumage 

 of the Mallard, even to the curling feathers of the tail. On the 

 other hand, the male plumage, according to Mr. Waterton, under- 

 goes a singular alteration. About the end of May the breast and 



