242 
THE MALLARD. 
very confident that when at full speed and on a long journey, they can fly 
at the rate of a hundred and twenty miles in the hour. 
The Mallard is truly omnivorous, its food consisting of everything that, 
can possibly satisfy the cravings of its extraordinary appetite. Nor is it at 
all cleanly in this respect, for it will swallow any kind of offals, and feed on 
all sorts of garbage, even putrid fish, as well as on snakes and small quadru- 
peds. Nuts and fruits of all kinds are dainties to it, and it soon fattens on 
rice, corn, or any other grain. My friend John Bachman, who usually 
raises a great number of Mallards every year, has the young fed on chopped 
fish, on which they thrive uncommonly well. So very greedy are these 
birds, that I have often observed a couple of them tugging for a long time 
against each other for the skin of an eel, which was already half swallowed 
by the one, while the other was engaged at the opposite end. They are 
expert fly-catchers, and are in the habit of patting with their feet the damp 
earth, to force ground-worms out of their burrows. 
Besides man, the enemies of the Mallard are the White-headed Eagle, the 
Snowy Owl, the Virginian Owl, the racoon, the lynx, and the snapping- 
turtle. Mallards are easily caught by snares, steel-traps baited with corn, 
and figure-of-four traps. As we have no decoys in the United States, I shall 
not trouble you with a new edition of the many accounts you will find in 
ornithological books of that destructive method of procuring Wild Ducks. 
The eggs of this species measure two inches and a quarter in length, one 
inch and five-eighths in breadth. The shell is smooth, and of a plain light 
dingy green. They are smaller than those of the Tame Duck, and rarely so 
numerous. As soon as incubation commences, the males associate together 
in flocks, until the young are able to migrate. This species raises only one 
brood in the season, and I never found its nest with eggs in autumn. The 
female covers her eggs before she leaves them to go in search of food, and 
thus keeps them sufficiently warm until her return. 
Mallard, Anas Boschas , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 112. 
Anas Boschas, Bonap. Syn., p. 383. 
Anas (Boschas) domestica, Mallard , Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 442. 
Mallard Duck, Anas domestica, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. SYS. 
Mallard, Areas Boschas, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 164. 
Male, 24, 36. Female, 22. 
Breeds from Texas sparingly throughout the United States. Columbia 
river, and Fur Countries. Abundant during winter in all the Southern Dis- 
tricts. Not found in Maine, or farther eastward. 
Adult Male. 
Bill about the length of the head, higher than broad at the base, depressed 
