WILD FOWL 
MALLARD OR COMMON WILD DUCK 
ANAS BOSCAS 
(Plate XXV) 
A nas boschas, Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 361 (1837) ; Dresser, Birds Europe, vi, p. 469, 
pi. 422 (1873). 
Anas boscas, Hume & Marshall, Game Birds Ind., iii, p. 151, pi. 21 (1880) ; Lilford, Col. 
Fig. Brit. Birds, part viii, pi. (1888) ; Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 189 (1895) ; 
Saunders, III. Man. Brit. Birds, p. 423 (1899) ; Millais, Surface-feeding Ducks, p. 1, pis. i-xi 
(1902). 
DULT male. — ^Head and neck rich glossy green, shading into 
purple, and bordered below by a white ring interrupted 
/ behind; mantle greyish-brown, scapulars grey, both being 
X "' finely vermiculated with brown ; lower back, rump and 
g upper tail -coverts black ; wings ashy -brown, the outer 
^JL *L,webs of the secondaries glossed with green and purple, 
forming a speculum bordered with black and white bands formed by 
the tips of the secondary quills and the greater coverts ; base of the fore- 
neck and chest deep chestnut-brown; breast and belly white, finely ver- 
miculated with brown ; under tail -coverts black ; under wing -coverts 
and axillaries pure white; four middle pairs of tail-feathers black glossed 
with purplish -green and recurved, the remaining pairs pale grey, 
edged and mottled with whitish. Iris brown; bill yellowish -green, nail 
black, base of the under mandible reddish -yellow; legs and feet reddish - 
orange. Total length about 22 inches; bill 2*2 inches; wing 10 5 inches; 
tail 3 8 inches; tarsus 1 8 inch. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage (middle of June to September). — Like the adult 
female, but somewhat darker. The crown blackish; the dark blackish- 
brown feathers of the back margined with rufous ; the feathers of the 
breast and sides with blackish middles and rusty -red edges, especially 
on the chest; and the rump and upper tail-coverts black, glossed with 
dark green. The bill dull olive -green. 
Adult female. — General colour above dark brown, each feather being 
margined with brownish -buff ; underparts, including the under tail- 
coverts, buff streaked with dark brown, except on the chin and throat ; long 
feathers of the sides and flanks with a brown shaft-stripe and submarginal 
band ; wings as in the male. Total length about 20 inches ; bill 2*1 inches; 
wing 10*3 inches ; tail 3 *5 inches ; tarsus 1 6 inch. 
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