The Mallard 17 
ducks (I have known Mallard kept in confinement for that period), but if a 
Mallard drake should live so long he will occasionally lose the white collar on 
the neck, whilst duck cease nesting at fifteen or thereabouts, and, as soon as 
the fertility of the ovaries declines, partially assume the plumage of the drake. 
Of late years the artificial rearing and driving of birds for shooting pur- 
poses has been brought to great perfection. Pheasants, partridges, and grouse 
have not declined in popularity, and never will as long as they take people out 
into the open air; but now sportsmen are every year recognising the facility 
with which Mallard may be reared artificially, and induced to fly in a certain 
line over guns. I think that Sir Richard Graham, of Netherby, was the 
first to successfully organise these big duck shoots, and he has certainly 
achieved great skill in placing the birds above the guns at a respectable 
elevation. Over two thousand Mallard were killed at Netherby in two 
days during this autumn (1901) and The Mackintosh at Moy has also 
killed as many as 900 in one day. 
Plumage of the Adult Mallard Drake 
Spring plumage. — Weight 2|- to 3 lbs. ; length 23 inches; wing 11 inches. 
Bill yellowish-green ; toes, webs, and legs, orange. Head and neck bright 
green, trending to black on lower neck, which is surrounded by a white ring. 
The secondaries of the wing have a greenish-purple band edged with black, 
and above and below white ; upper wing coverts slate ; rump and vent bluish- 
black. The four upper tail coverts are black, whilst the breast and lowest part 
of the back of the neck are deep chestnut. The back and upper scapulars are 
grey, finely vermiculated with black and brown on the edges near the centre 
of the back. Long scapulars grey and brown. 
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