232 



DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS. 



The Common Duck, or Mallard. 



English Synoktms. — Mallard: McGillivray, Jenyns. Common Wild 

 Duck : Montagu, Selby. 



Latest Synonym. — Anas hoschas : Linn., Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte, 

 Temminck. 



Eeench Synonym. — Canaird sauvage : Temminck. 



The plumage of the "Wild Duck is dense and elastic. The head, 

 throat, and upper part of the neck of the male are adorned with 

 hues of a bright emerald green, shot with violet ; its breast is of a 

 purplish brown ; its back is ashy brown, sprinkled with greyish- 

 white zigzag bars ; the four feathers in the middle of the tail, 

 curling up at the end ia a semicircle, are of a blackish hue with 

 a green reflection ; its length is about twenty- four inches ; length 

 of wing, thirty-fiye inches. The female, which is always smaller 

 than her mate, does not possess the bright colours which adorn 

 the Drake; Her plumage is brown and russet grey. Individuals 



Fig. 86 — Wild Ducks (^«as boschus). 



sometimes, though seldom, vary. Sir William Jardiae states 

 that he has seen Drakes having the upper parts of a bluish grey, 

 decreasing in depth of colouring down the breast; and Mr. 

 Yarrell mentions two instances in which females of this species 

 have assumed, to a considerable extent, the appearance and plumage 

 of the Mallard, even to the curling feathers of the tail. On the 

 other hand, the male plumage, according to Mr. "Waterton, under- 

 goes a singular alteration. About the end of May the breast and 



