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36 H. D. GOODALE. 



The tail of the male has some white, while in summer plumage 

 he resembles the female Rouen. (For description of latter see 

 below.) The female mallard, though of the same general color, is 

 of much lighter tone throughout than the Rouen female, which 

 might easily pass as a melanistic variety of the former. For prac- 

 tical purposes we are dealing with a wild species. •^- 



In addition to a general description, I have given a somewhat 

 detailed description of the feathers of the various sections of the 

 birds. There is, however, so much variation in the patterns of 

 the feathers of the female and the male in his summer plumage, 

 that these descriptions and figures illustrate only a few types. 

 This variation exists, not only between different birds, but even 

 in a single section of one individual. Though two feathers are 

 rarely exactly alike, the majority of feathers in a single section 

 have a general resemblance. On the other hand the feathers 

 of each section of the male's breeding plumage are very con- 

 stant in type. 



General Descriptions. 



Afale in Breeding Plumage (Fig. i). — Bill: greenish yellow. 

 Head and upper part of neck: rich metallic green. Then comes 

 a narrow white ring often not quite complete dorsally. Ventral 

 side of remainder of neck and a large part of breast : rich claret. 

 Remainder of ventral surface : iron gray, becoming lighter toward 

 the anus. Posterior to the last it becomes darker. Back: very 

 dark gray in neck region, becoming still darker in the middle and 

 greenish black on the rump. The two median tail feathers are 

 strongly curved antero-dorsally. They have the same color as 

 the rump. The next two are often curved, but may be duller in 

 color. These four form the so-called sex feathers. The rest of 

 the tail and the upper surface of wing is brownish black. The 

 latter has a speculum of iridescent purple. Under surface of 

 wing: white. The drake's voice is a soft qua, either rapidly re- 

 peated, with a slight pause after every other note, or else a some- 

 what louder, single note, much prolonged. In some varieties the 

 voice and sex feathers are the only conspicuous secondary sexual 

 characters. 



Female (Fig. 2). — Throughout a mixture of buff and dark 

 brown. Bill : brownish black, usually mottled with yellow. Occu- 



