442 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



feathers, and their coverts tapering and acute ; the middle pair of tail coverts having long 

 slender points that project two inches and a half beyond the tail. Tail graduated. Tracheal 

 dilatation a small osseous sac, the size of a hazel nut. 



The female is smaller than the male. Upper plumage brownish black, with a spot on each 

 side of the shaft, and borders of reddish-white. The middle coverts are not prolonged beyond 

 the tail, the barred feathers of the flanks are wanting, and the mirror is destitute of the green 

 gloss. Its total length is 21 inches ; extent of its wings 29 inches. 



Dimensions 

 Of the male. 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



Length, total* 26 G Length of wing . 10 9 Length of tarsus . .1 7 



„ of tail . .50 „ of bill above .20 „ of middle toe . 2 



,, of long coverts 7 6 ,, of bill to rictus .23 ,, of middle nail . 4J 



— R. 



[200.] 4. Anas (boschas) domestica. (Linn.) The Mallard. 



Genus, Anas, Linn. Swains. Suli-genus, Boschas. Antiq. Swains. 



Boschas major. Ray, Syn., A. 1, 150, 1. 



Anas boschas. Forster, Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 419, No. 53. 



The Mallard. Penn. Arct. Zool.,ii., p. 503, No. 494. Wils., viii., p. 112, pi. 60, f. 7- 



Canard sauvage {Anas boschas). Temm., ii., p. 835. 



Anas boschas. Bonap., Si/n., No. 323. 



Ethin-neesew sheesheep. Cree Indians. Stock-duck. Hudson's Bay Residents. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, May 7, 1827. 



Colour.— Head and adjoining half of the neck deep emerald-green : below which a white 

 collar; rest of the neck and breast dark chestnut. Anterior part of the back, wing coverts, 

 primaries, and tail, hair-brown of different tints, the tail feathers bordered with white, and the 

 anterior part of the back finely waved with grey ; rump and upper tail coverts blackish-green : 

 under tail coverts greenish-black. Shoulders, scapulars, sides of the rump, flanks, and 

 abdomen, grey, finely undulated with clove-brown : some of the exterior scapulars chestnut, 

 with darker lines. Speculum imperial purple, reflecting green, bounded above and below with 

 velvet-black and white, and interiorly with reddish-brown. Sides of the rump partly, and 

 interior of the wings entirely, white. Bill wax yellow. Irides reddish-brown. Legs orange. 



Form. — Bill rather longer than the head ; its breadth and height at the rictus equal ; 

 depressed, but scarcely dilated, towards the point. Lamince strong, the upper ones not 

 projecting below the margin of the mandiblef . Plumage of the nape and back of the neck 

 somewhat lengthened. Wings an inch and a half shorter than the tail, which consists of 

 sixteen feathers ; the two central pairs of upper tail coverts curl upwards. 



* To end of long tail coverts ; some specimens measure two inches more. — R. 



f A Mallard, in full plumage, killed in Lincolnshire in the winter, has the upper lamina projecting fully a line 

 below the margin of the mandible. — R. 



