242 THE MALLARD. 



very confident that when at full speed and on a long journey, they can fly at 

 the rate of a hundred and twenty miles in the hour. 



The Mallard is truly omnivorous, its food consisting of every thing that 

 can possibly satisfy the cravings of its extraordinary appetite. Nor is it at 

 all cleanly in this respect, for it will swallow any kind of offals, and feed on 

 all sorts of garbage, even putrid fish, as well as on snakes and small quadru- 

 peds. Nuts and fruits of all kinds are dainties to it, and it soon fattens on 

 rice, corn, or any other grain. My friend John Bachman, who usually 

 raises a great number of Mallards every year, has the young fed on chopped 

 fish, on which they thrive uncommonly well. So very greedy are these 

 birds, that I have often observed a couple of them tugging for a long time 

 against each other for the skin of an eel, which was already half swallowed 

 by the one, while the other was engaged at the opposite end. They are 

 expert fly-catchers, and are in the habit of patting with their feet the damp 

 earth, to force ground-worms out of their burrows. 



Besides man, the enemies of the Mallard are the White-headed Eagle, the 

 Snowy Owl, the Virginian Owl, the racoon, the lynx, and the snapping- 

 turtle. Mallards are easily caught by snares, steel-traps baited with corn, 

 and figure-of-four traps. As we have no decoys in the United States, I shall 

 not trouble you with a new edition of the many accounts you will find in 

 ornithological books of that destructive method of procuring Wild Ducks. 



The eggs of this species measure two inches and a quarter in length, one 

 inch and five-eighths in breadth. The shell is smooth, and of a plain light 

 dingy green. They are smaller than those of the tame Duck, and rarely so 

 numerous. As soon as incubation commences, the males associate together 

 in flocks, until the young are able to migrate. This species raises only one 

 brood in the season, and I never found its nest with eggs in autumn. The 

 female covers her eggs before she leaves them to go in search of food, and 

 thus keeps them sufficiently warm until her return. 



Mallard, Anas Boschas, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 112. 



Anas Boschas, Bonap. Syn., p. 3S3. 



Anas (Boschas) dojiestica, Mallard, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 442. 



Mallard Duck, Anas domestica, Nult. Man., vol. ii. p. 378. 



Mallard, Anas Boschas, Aud. Orn. Bios;., vol. iii. p. 164. 



Male, 24, 36. Female, 22. 



Breeds from Texas sparingly throughout the United States. Columbia 

 river, and Fur Countries. Abundant during winter in all the Southern Dis- 

 tricts. Not found in Maine, or farther eastward. 



Adult Male. 



Bill about the length of the head, higher than broad at the base, depressed 



