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Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1865, by Oeanqe Jtidd & Co., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District ofNew-York. 
VOLUME XXV—Mo. 2. 
NEW-YORK, FEBRUARY, 1866. 
NEW SERIES—No. 229. 
THE STRICKEN MALLARD. — From a Paintino by George L.4.nce. 
The Mallard, called also Green-head, is the pa¬ 
rent of all our common domestic varieties of duck 
of whatever colors,—of the White Aylcsbuiy, as 
well as of the more gaily colored Rouen. This 
is the Anas boschas of the naturalists, and the 
type of the natural family to which it belongs,— 
the duck of ducks. It is familiar to almost 
every one, from New York southward and west¬ 
ward; in New England and northward it is, 
however, less common, except as seen in the 
markets where it is always easy to distinguish j 
between the Mallards and tame ducks by the de¬ 
licate feet of the wild fowl. They are not easily 
domesticated, as we understand, being apt to 
pine in confinement, and not bearing our sum¬ 
mers nor winters well. We often find among 
our domestic ducks those whose colors aprox- 
imate very closely to the wild Mallard, and there 
seems to be no probability that a breed of tame 
ducks gained from this original stock, v'ould 
possess any advantages over those we now 
have. The beautiful engraving we present will 
be hailed with pleasure as a familiar sight by 
many a sportsman from Ohio to Kansas, and 
from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. The distress 
of the bird, so well depicted, is of short duration. 
1 dropping almost into his bands, is a very satis¬ 
factory one to the gunner. This bird has not 
been shot in the breast, as a novice might sup¬ 
pose ; the artist, who knows so well how to de¬ 
pict these wild summersets in the clouds, could 
not have made that error. The thick plumage 
which forms a cushion, that in alighting takes 
the weight of the heavy body, is a defence 
against any but very large shot at short range. 
The pair of frightened and screaming com¬ 
panions show from their position, and the direc¬ 
tion of their fliglit, that the gunner waited till 
he had a rear sight, and could “ see the color of 
the legs,” by which convenient measure, duck 
shooters are accustomed to estimate distances. 
