The Mallard

Length twenty-two to twenty-four inches.

Male:  head and part of neck shining dark green, with a white ring; back gray and black; tail light gray, with two curly black feathers on top; mirror rich purple with a black and white border.

Under parts rich chestnut on the breast, gray with wavy black lines on the belly, and black under the tail.

Bill greenish; eyes brown; feet orange.

Female:  like the Black Duck, but not so dark-colored, with more buff and tan markings, and the beauty-spot just the same as the Drake’s.

Bill blotched with black and orange.

A Citizen of North America and many other parts of the world.  This is the Wild Duck that has been domesticated and produced all kinds of tame ducks except the one called the Muscovy.  Most of the domestic varieties you see in the barnyard look like the wild ones, but some are pure white.  They can all sleep standing on one leg, with the head turned around so far that the bill points backward as it rests on the bird’s back.

[Illustration:  Mallard.]

The Pintail

Length up to thirty inches, though the body is not larger than a Mallard’s; but the neck is longer, and the two middle feathers of the tail are from five to nine inches long; these are slender and sharp, whence the name Pintail.

Male:  head and neck dark-colored, with a long white stripe lengthwise on each side.  Back and sides finely waved with black and gray.  Breast and belly pure white.  Feathers under the tail jet-black.  Long inner feathers of the wing striped lengthwise with velvet-black and silver-gray.  Mirror on the wing glittering purple or violet, framed with black, white, and buff.

Female:  not so handsome as the Drake, and the middle tail-feathers so much shorter that she is not over two feet long; but the neck is longer and slenderer than usual in this family in proportion to her size.

A Citizen of North America and many other countries, more common in the interior of the United States than on the Atlantic coast; nesting from the middle districts far northward, wintering in the Southern States and far beyond.  A fine Duck for the table.

[Illustration:  Pintail.]

The Green-winged Teal

Length less than fifteen inches—­all kinds of Teals are very small
Ducks.

Male:  head chestnut with black chin and a shining green patch on each side, and a little crest behind.  Back and sides with fine wavy marks of black and gray.  A curved white bar in front of the wing; mirror half purple and half green, bordered with black, white, and buff.

Under parts white, tinged with buff, with many round black spots; the feathers at the root of the tail black with a buff patch on each side.

Female:  different from the male on the head and body, but the wings like his; besides, she is so small you cannot mistake her for any other kind of Duck.