noun
definition
A common and widespread dabbling duck, Anas platyrhynchos, whose male has a distinctive dark green head.
Examples of mallards in a Sentence
There are deer (at least five species), boars, bears, antelopes, beavers, otters, badgers, tiger-cats, marten, an inferior sable, striped squirrels, &c. Among birds there are black eagles, peregrines (largely used in hawking), and, specially protected by law, turkey bustards, three varieties of pheasants, swans, geese, common and spectacled teal, mallards, mandarin ducks white and pink ibis, cranes, storks, egrets, herons, curlews, pigeons, doves, nightjars, common and blue magpies, rooks, crows, orioles, halcyon and blue kingfishers, jays, nut-hatches, redstarts, snipe, grey shrikes, hawks, kites, &c. But, pending further observations, it is not possible to say which of the smaller birds actually breed in Korea and which only make it a halting-place in their annual migrations.
The fen-drainage resulted in the extinction of many local industries, such as the trade in goose-feathers and the export of wild fowl to the London markets, a 17th-century writer terming this county "the aviary of England, 3000 mallards with other birds having been caught sometimes in August at one draught."
They are much daintier and more slender than female mallards, and often have markedly orange heads and necks.
Along the stream we caught a glimpse of a couple of hen mallards, shepherding a brood of ducklings between them.
More welcome wildlife spotted included gray wagtails, mallards and blackbirds.