Mallard (redirected from mallards)

mallard: see duck.

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mallard

Abundant “wild duck” (Anas platyrhynchos, family Anatidae) of the Northern Hemisphere, ancestor of most domestic ducks. The mallard is a typical dabbling duck in its general habits and courtship display. The drake of the common mallard (subspecies A. p. platyrhynchos) has a metallic green or purplish head, reddish breast, and light-gray body; the hen is mottled yellowish brown. Both sexes have a yellow bill and a purplish blue, white-bordered wing mark. Males and females of the Greenland mallard (A. p. conboschas) also differ markedly in plumage. In the other subspecies, both sexes resemble the female common mallard. Mallards are found throughout most of Asia, Europe, and northern North America.

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mallard

a duck, Anas platyrhynchos, common over most of the N hemisphere, the male of which has a dark green head and reddish-brown breast: the ancestor of all domestic breeds of duck

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Mallard 

(Anas platyrhynchos) a bird of the family Anatidae. It measures about 60 cm long and weighs 0.8 to 1.4 kg. In the spring the head and neck of the male are dark green, and there are purplish blue specula on the wings. The female is of dark brownish color. In the summer the male resembles the female.

The mallard is distributed in Europe, Asia (except the south), and North America. In the USSR it is found from the southern borders to the arctic circle (in Eastern Siberia it does not reach the arctic circle). The mallard flies south or southwest for the winter (isolated individuals may winter on unfrozen bodies of water). It nests on the ground, on hillocks, and sometimes beneath trees; more rarely it nests on trees, in hollows, or in artificial nesting places. A clutch has eight to 14 eggs; most often it is ten or 11. The female incubates the eggs for 26 days. Mallards feed on algae, seeds, insects, small crustaceans, and mollusks. With the ripening of cereal grains, they fly out for night feedings in the fields; in some areas they damage rice plantings. Mallards are game birds. The domestic duck is descended from the mallard.