MALLARD, OR WILD DRAKE. 297 



wards of two pounds and a half; the bill is greenish-yellow; 

 irides, hazel; head, and part of the neck, deep glossy change- 

 able green, ending in a narrow collar of white; the rest of the 

 neck and breast are of a dark purplish chestnut; lesser wing- 

 coverts, brown ash ; greater, crossed near the extremities with 

 a band of white, and tipped with another of deep velvety 

 black; below this lies the speculum, or beauty spot, of a rich 

 and splendid light purple, with green and violet reflections, 

 bounded on every side with black; quills, pale-brownish "ash; 

 back, brown, skirted with paler; scapulars, whitish, crossed 

 with fine, undulating lines of black; rump and tail-coverts, 

 black, glossed with green ; tertials, very broad, and pointed at 

 the ends; tail, consisting of eighteen feathers, whitish, centred 

 with brown-ash, the four middle ones excepted, which are nar- 

 row, black, glossed with violet, remarkably concave, and curled 

 upwards to a complete circle; belly and sides, a fine gray, 

 crossed by an infinite number of fine, waving lines, stronger 

 and more deeply marked as they approach the vent; legs and 

 feet, orange-red. 



The female has the plumage of the upper parts dark brown, 

 broadly bordered with brownish-yellow ; and the lower parts 

 yellow ochre, spotted and streaked with deep brown ; the chin 

 and throat, for about two inches, plain yellowish-white; wings, 

 bill, and legs, nearly as in the male. 



The windpipe of the male has a bony labyrinth, or bladder- 

 like knob, puffing out from the left side. The intestines mea- 

 sure six feet, and are as wide as those of the Canvass-Back. 

 The windpipe is of uniform diameter, until it enters the laby- 

 rinth." 



Like most of Wild Fowl, the Mallard breeds in the far North, 

 and makes its appearance in the Autumn among the first of our 

 Ducks. It is common throughout all our rivers, and fresh- 

 water lakes, but is seldom met with on the sea-coast. As the 

 winter progresses, large numbers continue South, and take up 

 their abode among the rice fields of the Carolinas, where they 

 become very fat and particularly palatable; their flesh at all 

 times when the weather is not very severe is good, as they feed 

 on vegetable matter in preference to any other kind of food, 

 and only partake of fish when they cannot obtain an3^thing else. 



