MALLARD

(Anas platyrhyncos), abundant wild duck of the Northern Hemisphere and ancestor of most domestic ducks. It belongs to the family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). Of the several races, the common mallard (A. p. platyrhynchos) breeds throughout Europe, most of Asia, and northern North America; it winters as far south as North Africa, India, and southern Mexico. The drake has a metallic green head (purplish in some lights), reddish breast, and light-gray body; the hen is mottled yellowish brown. Both sexes have a yellow bill and a purplish-blue wing mark bordered front and rear with white. Of the other races only one, the Greenland mallard (A. p. conboschas), shows the strong sexual difference in plumage. All others resemble, in both sexes, the hen of A. p. platyrhynchos. Two of these races are quite small and very rare: the Hawaiian duck (A. p. wyvilliana) and the Laysan teal (A. p. laysanensis); only a tiny population of the latter survives on Laysan Island, west of Hawaii. The remaining races are sometimes classified as races of the black duck (A. rubripes)which may itself be merely another race of the mallard. The mallard is a typical dabbling duck (q.v.) in its general habits and courtship display.