THE MALLARD, 
187 
^ark brown ; these s])ots on the breast become larger, 
crescent shaped ; back and scapulars, dark brown, 
^2ed and centred with yellow ochre ; belly, slightly 
mixed with white ; wing, nearly as in the male. 
Ou dissection, the labyrinth in the windpipe of the 
pale Was found to be small ; the trachea itself seven 
’*®kes long; the intestines nine feet nine inches in length, 
about the thickness of a crow quill. 
259 . JNAs noscirjs, lisk^ecs — the siallard. 
"'"■SOS, ELATE LXX. FIG. Vil. EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUJf- 
I Tiie mallard, or common wild drake, is so universally 
®own as scarcely to require a description. It measures 
‘" enty-four inches in length, by three feet in extent, 
pd \reigbs upwards of two pounds and a half ; the bill 
* k'reeuish yellow ; irides, hazel ; head and part of the 
deep glossy changeal)le green, ending iu a narrow 
^llar of white ; the rest of the neck and breast arc of 
. dark purplish chestnut ; lesser wing-coverts, brown 
greater crossed near the extremities with a hand 
I, ''kite, and tipt with another of deep velvety black; 
this lies the sjieculum, or beauty spot, of a rich 
splendid light purple, with green and violet i-eflec- 
hounded on every side with black ; quills, pale 
.^'vnish ash ; back, brown, skirted with psiler; scapulars, 
^®dish, crossed with fine undulating lines of black ; 
{ "P and tail-coverts, black, glossed with green; 
^!*'tiids, very broad, and pointed at the ends; tail, 
lP"sisting of eighteen feathers, whitish, centred with 
-‘'“"■n ash, the four middle ones excepted, which are 
"h-r, ■ 
^-tfiog lines, stronger and more deeply marked as they 
**!"'Oach the vent ; legs and feet, orange red. 
1 file female has the plumage of the iqiper jiarts dark 
broadly bordered with brownish j'cllow ; and 
6 lower parts yellow ochre, spotted and streaked with 
