THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 55 



Duck, Long-Tail. See Old Squaw Duck. 



Duck, Mallard. Length, twenty-three inches; ex- 

 tent, three feet; bill, two and a quarter inches. The bill is a 

 greenish yellow: head and neck, glossy greenish and bluish 

 black, with a white collar around the neck; upper part of 

 the back, a dark grayish brown, growing darker near the 

 tail; breast, brown; belly, grayish white, with wavy black 

 lines; sides, pale gray, waved with darker; tail, mostly 

 white, with some gray, brown and black; wings, above 

 grayish white, waved with black, patch of bright glossy blue 

 feathers with white bands around the middle; legs and feet, 

 orange red. In the female the whole plumage above 

 and below is mottled with brown and light buff, lighter 

 beneath. It nests on the ground near water, the nest 

 being composed of grass, weeds and feathers. The 

 eggs are from six to ten in number, of a pale yellow- 

 ish or bluish white, two and a half by one and three- 

 quarter inches in size. Its breeding location is the 

 northern hemisphere and in winter it is distributed 

 throughout the temperate region; in New Jersey it 

 is more frequently found on the rivers than along the 

 coast. Its quack cannot be distinguished from that of 

 the domestic duck. Its food is principally vegetable 

 and its flesh is considered excellent. 



Duck, Merganser. See Merganser. 



Dnck. Old Squaw, Old Wife, Long-tailor South 

 Southerly. Length, about twenty-three inches, depend- 

 ing a great deal on the length of the tail, which varies; 

 extent, from thirty to thirty- four-inches; bill, one inch. 

 The female is somewhat smaller, being sixteen inches in 

 length and twenty-eight in extent. The front and sides 

 of the head are gray; back of the head, yellowish white; 

 the back, black and gray; breast, belly and sides, white; 

 the tail is long and pointed, black; wings, black; legs and 



