Mallard (Anas Platyrhynchos) P.1 Feb 8 Lake Merritt, Oakland, Alameda Co., Calif. 8:30 am 2 or 3 hundred (some domestic or semi domestic) on lake - seemingly [illegible] m & f in approx equal numbers. Not too much dabbling but quite a bit of activity when groups of observers wander along bank. Ducks come in close (looking for handouts) to these groups. The ducks seems to travel in groups from 2 to at least 6 or 8, /made obsrved apparent m & grasping f brown or back or head feathers & mounting. f head held under water for several seconds this instance. f broke away & was pursued by some m's /made but no second attempt at cohabitation. Green heads of m's when bird is towards sun appears a little [illegible] purplish with greenish tint but when bird is away from sun (from observer) head is green, 9:00 am. several times m & f seen swimming side by side, [illegible] a few m's with 2 or 3 f's alongside but when more than 1 m was alongside f, the 2 m's showed some sort of excited behavior: swimming around f, facing each other, or quarreling lightly - but no