THIi TRUK DUCKS. 
271 
is therefore as in the male, but it is not so bright and is more 
broadly bordered with black ; the inner secondaries bordered 
with rufous, like the scapulars ; lower back, rump, and upper 
tail-coverts like the upper back ; tail-feathers ashy-whitish, cen- 
tred with dark brown, which is more or less broken up into 
rufous markings ; under surface of body yellowish-buff ; the 
throat uniform, but the sides of the face and neck streaked 
like the head ; the chest and sides of the body mottled 
with dark brown centres to the feathers ; fore-neck and chest 
tinged with chestnut ; under tail-coverts white, with black 
streaks ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white. Total length, 
20 inches; culmen, 2-1 ; wing, 10-3 ; tail, 3‘4; tarsus, 1-5. 
Young Males and Young Females. — Almost alike in plumage, 
and at first resembling the old female in general appearance, 
but the darker head and blacker appearance of the back arc 
generally sufficient to di.stinguish the males, which have also a 
clearly indicated dark eye-stripe. Young birds also seem to 
be much more plentifully streaked with brown on the under- 
parts. For a short period in the summer, males assume a 
plumage only to be distinguished from that of the female by 
its blacker appearance above, the feathers of the back being 
edged with rufous, while the crown and a broad stripe through 
the eye are also black ; the quills are fully moulted, as well as 
the body feathers, and the full plumage is again assumed by a 
direct moult. 
Hyt)rids. — These are so many that it is impossible to enu- 
merate them all here. Crossings with at least a dozen other 
species of Ducks are recorded by Count Salvadori. 
Range in Great Britain. — Of all the fresh-water Ducks, the 
Mallard is the commonest, and though it was more plentiful 
in former days, there are still so many places where it is 
encouraged to breed, that it is extremely numerous in some 
districts, and every winter there is a vast accession of numbers 
due to arrivals from the Continent. At this season of the year, 
the species quits its northern habitat, and is absent from many 
of the northern districts of Scotland and its islands. It 
breeds, according to Mr. Usshcr, in every county in Ireland. 
