MALLARD. 



/^RIGINALLY the source from which the domesti- 

 cated races of Ducks have descended, the Mallard 

 is distributed over the entire northern portions of both 

 hemispheres. In North America it is found from the 

 Arctic regions to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the At- 

 lantic to the Pacific Ocean. Throughout this vast extent 

 of country it bears, as may be supposed, many names, of 

 which some of the most common are. Green-head, Wild 

 Duck, and Gray Duck or Gray Mallard, while the French 

 call it Canard franqais or French Duck; and the Rus- 

 sians Se le sen. In England it is sometimes known as 

 Stock Duck, probably because it is the stock from which 

 the tame Duck has been derived. Wherever found in 

 summer, there the Wild Duck breeds. The nest is a 

 rather large structure of grasses and small sedge stalks, 

 lined occasionally with down or feathers, and placed in 

 the vicinity of water, in a marsh, or, if in the West, on the 

 prairie near some slough. The pale, greenish white eggs 

 are usually six in number, and the female alone attends to 

 the duties of incubation; the male loitering about in the 

 vicinity, or else joining unto himself a number of other 

 idle males, passing the time in dabbling about the ponds 

 in the vicinity and selfishly caring only for their individ- 

 ual interests. The female is a close sitter, and will allow 

 an intruder to approach very near before indicating by 

 any movement that she is aware of his presence, and only 

 leaves the nest when capture is imminent. In the North 

 the situation of the nest is sometimes quite different, and 



