THE MALLARD. 

 Anas boscas, Linnaeus. 

 Plate 46. 



The Mallard, perhaps better known as Wild Duck, and the origin of our 

 domestic species, is widely distributed not only in the British Islands, where it 

 breeds in every county, but throughout the world. In winter the number of 

 Mallards in our country is greatly increased by flocks arriving from the Continent 

 of Europe, owing to the freezing of their northern feeding grounds. 



The nest, built of grass and warmly lined with down, although usually hidden 

 among reeds and other cover near water, is often situated on the tops of pollard 

 willows or in hollow trees. The eggs, of a pale greenish-grey colour, vary in 

 number from about seven to twelve. 



The Mallard is more or less omnivorous, eating small fishes, molluscs, slugs, 

 worms, &c., as well as vegetable products and grain, and it usually feeds by night. 

 When on the coast the birds generally spend the day at sea or in the estuaries, 

 resting and preening their feathers, and as soon as darkness begins, come in to the 

 mud-flats and marshes, or to stubble or potato fields. 



It is hardly necessary to describe the notes of this species, but those uttered by 

 the drake are much lower and more husky than the duck's. 



By nature the Mallard is shy and wary, and a flock will circle many times over 

 a sheet of water before making up their minds to settle. 



In days gone by great numbers of this species, as well as other ducks, were 

 caught in decoys, an ingenious arrangement of reed-screens and netting, into which 

 the birds were lured to their destruction. 



Being a surface-feeder, the Mallard does not as a rule seek its food by diving, 

 but according to Lt.-Commander J. G. Millais, our greatest living authority on all 

 that pertains to the duck family (The Natural History of British Surface-feeding 

 Ducks, p. 3), " The real exceptions to the rule are to be found in the immature birds 

 — the birds three-quarters grown, and still unable to fly. At this stage of life the 

 Mallard, encouraged by their attendant mothers, gain much of their food by 

 diving." 



The same author has given us a complete history of the curious change of 



plumage which takes place in the males of this species and other ducks during 



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