THE MALLARD. 
187 
dark brown; these spots on the breast become larger, 
and crescent shaped ; back and scapulars, dark brown, 
edged and centred with yellow ochre ; belly, slightly 
rufous, mixed with white ; wing, nearly as in the male. 
On dissection, the labyrinth in the windpipe of the 
male was found to be small ; the trachea itself seven 
inches long ; the intestines nine feet nine inches in length, 
and about the thickness of a crow quill. 
259 . ANAS BOSCH AS, LINNAEUS. THE MALLARD. 
WILSON, PLATE LXX. FIG. VII — EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
The mallard, or common wild drake, is so universally 
known as scarcely to require a description. It measures 
twenty-four inches in length, by three feet in extent, 
and weighs upwards of two pounds and a half ; the bill 
is greenish yellow ; irides, hazel; head and part of the 
neck, deep glossy changeable green, ending in a narrow 
collar of white ; the rest of the neck and breast are of 
a dark purplish chestnut ; lesser wing-coverts, brown 
ash, greater crossed near the extremities with a band 
of white, and tipt with another of deep velvety black ; 
below this lies the speculum, or beauty spot, of a rich 
and splendid light purple, with green and violet reflec- 
tions, bounded on every side with black ; quills, pale 
brownish ash ; back, brown, skirted with paler; scapulars, 
whitish, crossed with fine undulating lines of black ; 
rump and tail-coverts, black, glossed with green ; 
tertials, very broad, and pointed at the ends ; tail, 
consisting of eighteen feathers, whitish, centred with 
brown ash, the four middle ones excepted, which are 
narrow, black, glossed with violet, remarkably concave, 
and curled upwards to a complete circle ; belly and 
sides, a fine gray, crossed by an infinite number of fine 
waving lines, stronger and more deeply marked as they 
approach the vent ; legs and feet, orange red. 
The female has the plumage of the upper parts dark 
brown, broadly bordered with brownish yellow ; and 
the lower parts yellow ochre, spotted and streaked with 
