MALLARD. 



23 



of May in northern Indiana, to early June in the Mackenzie Valley 

 and the Yukon Delta, and the last week of June in Greenland. 



It is one of the common ducks of the Old World, breeding in the 

 Northern Hemisphere and ranging south in winter to central Africa 

 and southern Asia. 



Winter range. — The mallard is a fresh- water duck, and in general it 

 winters as far north as open fresh water is found. The greater num- 

 ber spend the winter in the southern half of the Mississippi Valley, 

 and for many years this was the source of a large part of the market 

 supply. The numbers killed were almost incredible. Big Lake, 

 Arkansas, was and still is one of the favorite resorts, and during 

 the winter of 1893-94 a single gunner sold 8,000 mallards, while the 

 total number sent to market from this one place amounted to 120,000. 

 Fortunately both Arkansas and Missouri now forbid market shooting, 

 and this deplorable slaughter has been decidedly lessened. 



This species winters casually in eastern Massachusetts and central 

 New York, accidentally in Nova Scotia, and regularly from Virginia 

 to northern Florida. It is less common in central Florida, and has 

 been recorded in the Bermudas, Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Grenada, 

 Carriacou, Panama, and Costa Rica. Most of these localities have 

 only one record each, showing that the mallard is only a straggler to 

 the southeast of the United States. There seems to be no record for 

 Central America from Costa Rica to Mexico. The species is a com- 

 mon winter resident of northern Mexico and ranges south to Jalapa, 

 the Valley of Mexico, Colima, and southern Lower California. 



The northern winter limit in the interior is in Ohio, northern Indi- 

 ana, southern Wisconsin, Nebraska, Wyoming, and central Montana. 

 The species is common in winter along the whole Pacific coast as far 

 north as the Aleutian Islands. 



Spring migration. — It is among the earliest of ducks to move 

 northward and forms a large proportion of the early flocks. The 

 portion of the central Mississippi Valley that forms the extreme 

 winter range is invaded by the spring migrants the latter part of 

 February; Frankfort, Ind. (average for ten years), February 21; 

 central Illinois (twelve years), February 22; central Missouri (six- 

 teen years), February 26; Keokuk, Iowa (nine years), February 24; 

 southern Kansas (eleven years), February 18; southeastern Nebraska 

 (five years), February 19. Just north of the winter range average 

 dates of spring arrival are: Erie, Pa., March 5; central New York, 

 March 23; Oberlin, Ohio, March 21; southern Michigan, March 9; 

 southern Ontario, March 24; Ottawa, Ontario, March 27; Chicago, 

 111. (eleven years), March 19; southern Wisconsin (twelve years), March 

 21; Spirit Lake, Iowa, March 10; Heron Lake, Minn., March 11; 

 central South Dakota (fourteen years), March 16; Larimore, N. 

 Dak. (twelve years), March 28; Terry, Mont., March 26. The mallard 



