470 



the neck deep vivid green, changing into rich dark violet ; round the middle of the neck a white ring 

 not quite meeting behind; fore part of the back and scapulars grey, minutely barred with brown, 

 middle of the back dark umber-brown, margined with dull fulvous ; rump very dark blackish green, 

 with violet reflections, the four recurved feathers in the tail being similarly coloured ; tail pale brownish 

 grey, broadly edged with white ; quills brownish grey, edged with dirty greyish white ; all the short 

 secondary quills, with the outer webs, rich purplish blue, with bottle-green reflections, and at the tip a 

 black bar succeeded by white; inner secondaries with the outer edge dark brown, otherwise grey, 

 minutely barred with brown ; fore part of the breast rich chestnut-red ; lower part of the breast, sides, 

 and abdomen greyish white, narrowly barred with dark brown, the flanks being purest in colour ; under 

 tail-coverts black, glossed with purplish blue; axillaries and under wing-coverts white; beak dark 

 greenish, lighter towards the base ; under mandible reddish yellow at the base ; legs and feet reddish 

 orange; iris brown. Total length 23 inches, culmen 2 - 6, wing 10*5, tail 4'0, tarsus 185. 



Male in summer. Closely resembles the female, being merely somewhat darker in colour. This plumage is 

 donned by degrees early in June ; and in August the full rich winter dress is again resumed. 



Adult Female (Harting, Sussex) . Head and neck blackish brown, the feathers more or less margined with 

 reddish brown and dull yellowish brown, giving those parts the appearance of being dull brown, striated 

 with dark blackish brown ; back and upper parts generally dark dusky brown, the feathers edged with 

 pale reddish brown; wing and speculum as in the male, but duller in colour; middle tail-feathers 

 straight, and similar in colour to the others ; throat and fore part of the neck dull brownish white, 

 washed with yellowish ; rest of the underparts yellowish grey, streaked and spotted with dull brown. 



The range of the Mallard is very extensive, as it occurs throughout Europe, Northern Africa, 

 Asia from the far north down into China and Japan, and North America as far south as Mexico. 

 In Great Britain it is found generally distributed throughout the country, more commonly, 

 however, in the north than in the south during the summer. In Ireland it is, Mr. Thompson 

 writes, common around the coast, on freshwater lakes, &c, and is indigenous. Respecting its 

 abundance in Scotland Mr. Robert Gray writes that " in almost every flock of wild-fowl attractive 

 to the sportsman in our western counties, the Mallard is by far the commonest species of Duck 

 to be met with. It is very abundant on all the islands of both the inner and outer group, and 

 also on the whole of the western mainland from north to south. On the larger sheets of water — 

 such as Loch Lomond and Loch Awe, Loch Shiel, Loch Maree, and Loch Assynt — vast numbers 

 breed and collect together after the broods are able to fly, until their principal haunts become 

 overcrowded, when they break up into scattered groups, betaking themselves in open weather to 

 moorland marshes, or to the sea- shore when the snow and ice compel them to seek a change. 

 Immense numbers also congregate on the retired parts of some rivers, where, especially in pro- 

 tected grounds, they find a safe refuge. In walking through the policies of Duff House, in 

 Banffshire, I was much struck with the extraordinary flights of Mallards at a particular pool in 

 the Deveron. There must have been many hundreds together in the pool; and on being 

 approached, they merely swam or flew to the other side of the river. I have seen similar flocks 

 on the lake of Ochtertyre, in Perthshire, and other secluded lochs within private policies 

 throughout both the eastern and western counties of Scotland. The most remarkable assemblage 

 of Mallards I ever saw was on the pond at Douglas Castle, Lanarkshire, in the spring of 1870. 

 The birds were so tame as to allow even strangers to approach within six or eight yards of the 



