DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 51 



divers arc below, and as their heads appear above the surface snatch 

 their catch and hurry away to swallow it at leisure. 



GENUS NETTION. 



General Characters. - - Tail feathers 16 ; sides of bill parallel throughout ; 

 upper and lower outlines in front of nostril straight : wing- with speculum 

 bright green ; head of male in winter and breeding plumage with short 

 crest. 



KEY TO ADULT MALES. 



1. Sides and shoulders finely lined with black and white, and shoulders 

 crossed by white bar carolinensis. p. 51. 



1'. Sides and shoulders coarsely lined with black and white; shoulders 

 without white bar crecca, p. 51. 



[138.] Nettion crecca (Linn.}. EUROPEAN TEAL. 



Adult male. Similar to carolinensis but shoulder without white bar, and 

 black lines and spots on body heavier and coarser. Adult female : indis- 

 tinguishable from female carolinensis. 



Distribution. Northern part of Old World, occasional in northern part 

 of North America and in California. 



139. Nettion carolinensis (Gmel.). GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 



Adult male. Head light chestnut, forehead and chin blackish ; a wide 

 crescent of green and black inclosing eye and reaching to base of crest ; breast 

 buffy, spotted with black ; back 

 gray, shoulders crossed by white 

 bar ; shoulders and sides finely 

 cross-lined with black and white ; 

 wing with green and black specu- 

 lum, bordered above by buff and 

 below by white ; under tail coverts 

 black, bordered by rich buff. Adult 

 female : back, sides, and breast 

 dusky, scalloped and mottled with 

 buff ; throat and belly whitish ; 

 base of wing slaty ; wing with 



7 



speculum as in male. 1 oung male : 



belly white. Length : 12.50-15.00, wing 6.25-7.40, bill 1.40-1.60. 



Distribution. Whole of North America, breeding in Colorado. Oregon, 

 and California, but mainly north of the United States : in winter south to 

 Honduras and Cuba. 



Nest. In a tuft of grass, or on dry ground among willows, made of 

 grass and lined with down. Eggs: usually 9 to 12, sometimes 16 to 18, 

 pale buff. 



The green-winged teal, like most of its near relatives, is far more 

 a duck of the marshes, grass-fringed ponds, meadow creeks, and 

 irrigation ditches than of the clear lakes and streams. Like the 

 mallard, and often in its company, the teal are fond of feeding in 

 shallow water where, by standing on their heads, - - with tails and 

 sometimes feet sticking up out of .the water, they can reach the 

 bottom to grub up the tender roots and water plants, and sift out 



