14 



BIRD NAMES. 



[No. 6. 



ulum," of purplish blue bordered with white and black. Bill 

 greenish yellow ; legs reddish orange. 



Size very variable, about two feet in length, and three feet 

 or more in extent. (One old drake now before me spreads nearly 

 forty inches.) 



Female. A little smaller than male, with similar wings and 

 feet ; bill blotchily marked blackish and orange. General plu- 

 mage of upper parts dusky brown variegated with light brown 

 or dead-grass color, this latter tint paling to whitish here and 

 there ; markings about head and neck fine and streaky ; crown 



§i§ipi^ 



m 



No. 6. Female. 



of head dark ; throat plain buff ; under surface of body varying 

 with different specimens from buff to grayish or soiled white, 

 and spotted with dusky brown. 



This is the original of our most common domesticated duck. 

 Though usually shy and suspicious, I have found them feeding 

 with farm-yard cousins in close proximity to barns and dwell- 

 ing-houses. They are peculiarly ready (male and female) to 

 mate with ducks of other species, and hybrids from these con- 

 nections are not rare. The offspring of Mallard (No. 6) and 

 Dusky -duck (No. 7) are raised in large numbers at Bell port, 



