582 THE MALLARD. 



No. 281. 



MALLARD. 



A. O. U. No. 132. Anas boschas Linn. » 



Synonyms. — Gray Mai,i.ard ; "Wild Duck" (par excellence) ; GrEEN-head. 



Description. — Adult male : Whole head and neck soft, shining, dark green ; 

 fore-neck and breast rich dark chestnut, with a purplish tinge, separated from 

 green of neck by narrow white collar not meeting behind; sides of breast, belly, 

 sides and crissum grayish white, finely undulated with dusky ; the same continued 

 on back, but largely overlaid or suppressed, except on scapulars, by rich brown of 

 various shades; speculum (terminal portion of secondaries) shining metallic blue 

 or purplish violet, bordered on either side immediately by black and then by white, 

 — the anterior bars furnished by the tips of the greater coverts, the posterior by the 

 tips of the secondaries; rump sooty brown; upper tail-coverts deep black with 

 greenish gloss, the longer central feathers curled upward; under tail-coverts deep 

 purplish black ; tail grayish white with dusky speckling and central areas ; bill 

 olive-yellow with black nail ; iris hazel ; feet orange red. Adult female : Quite 

 different ; speculum much as in male, but remaining plumage dusky and ochraceous 

 or brownish buff, the former centrally on feathers, broadly and prevailingly on up- 

 per parts, the latter narrowly or obscurely in crescentic, U-shaped, and irregular 

 markings ; below brownish buff predominant, brightest on breast, fading on belly ; 

 head and neck buff, sharply and finely streaked except on throat and usually chin, 

 where immaculate. Adult male in summer : Much like female, but somewhat 

 darker (Sharpe and Dresser). Length 20.00-25.00 (508.-635.) ; wing 11.00 

 (279.4) ; tail 3.3s (85.1) ; bill 2.25 (57.2) ; tarsus 1.75 (44.5). Female averages 

 smaller than male. 



Recognition Marks. — The standard of measurement for ducks (size of Do- 

 mestic Duck) . Green head of male ; metallic blue speculum, bordered by black and 

 white, of both sexes. 



Nest, on the ground, near water, but usually well hidden in weeds or rushes, 

 lined with trash and feathers. Bggs, 6-10, yellowish drab, pale olivaceous, green, 

 or greenish white. Av. size, 2.30 x 1.70 (58.4 x 43.2). 



General Range. — Northern parts of northern hemisphere; in America south 

 to Panama and Cuba, breeding southward to southern United States ; less common 

 in the East. 



Range in Oliio. — Common migrant, casually resident in winter; also sparing 

 summer resident. Still the most frequent in occurrence, tho not the most "abun- 

 dant" duck in the state. 



THIS, the contemporary ancestor of our domestic duck, enjoys a distri- 

 bution almost woTld-Vi^ide, and has beeii from earliest times the best known 

 of swimming birds. Altho nowhere in America so abundant as formerly, 

 it is still the standard with which we compare all other species, both in point 

 of excellence and in numbers. Being somewhat less gregarious than the 

 Teals and the Sea Ducks, the Mallards are found in pairs or small parties, 

 wherever a swampy pool or a widening of the brook affords a resting place, 

 and one may easily recognize their fitness for domestication, in the fact that 



