ANATIDjE THE SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 131 



SUBGENUS Querquedula STEPHENS. 



Querquedula STEPHENS, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. ii, 1824,142. Type, Anas querquednla 



LINN. 



Gyanopterus EYTON, Mon. Anat. 1838, 38. Type? (Not of Halliday, 1835.) 

 Pterocyanea BONAP. Cat. Met. 1842, 71. Type? 



SUBGEN. CHAK. Size small (wing less than 8 inches). Bill slightly longer than the 

 head, the edges nearly parallel, the maxillary tomium sinuated, so as to distinctly ex- 

 pose the lamellae for the basal half, and the terminal half of the culmen slightly but dis- 

 tinctly arched. Otherwise much like Nettion. 



The two North American species of Querquedula agroe very closely in the details of 

 form, in which respect they scarcely differ from the type of the genus, the Q. querquednla 

 of Europe. The coloration of the wing, which is almost exactly that of Spatula, is also 

 essentially the same in these three species. The females are very different from the 

 males, except in the colors of the wing, being much duller. The following are the main 

 differential characteristics of the North American species : 



1. A. discors. Adult male: Head and neck dull plumbeous, with a faint lavender- 

 purple gloss on the sides of the occiput; pileum blackish; a large white, some- 

 what crescent-shaped, mark before the eye, entirely across fore part of the head; 

 lo^er parts pale reddish, spotted with black. 



2. A. cyanoptera. Adult male: Head, neck, and lower parts rich uniform chestnut, 

 the abdomen duller (sometimes dusky), the pileum blackish. 



Anas discors Linn. 



THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



Popular synonyms. Blue-wing; White-face, or White-faced Teal; Summer Teal; Cer- 



ceta comun (Mexico). 

 Anas discors LINN. S. N. ed. 12, i, 1766, 205. WILS. Am. Orn. viii, 1814, 74, pi. 68, fig. 



4. AUD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 111, pi. 313; Synop. 1839, 282; B. Am. vi, 1843, 287, pi. 



393. A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 140,-RiDGW. Man. N. Am.' B. 1887, 93. 

 Anas (Boschas) discors Sw. & RICH. F. B.-A. ii. 1831, 444. NUTT. Man. ii, 1834, 397. 

 Querquedula discors STEPHENS, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. ii,1824, 149. BAIED.B. N. 



Am. 1858, 779; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 581. COUES, Key, 1872, 287; Check List, 



1873, No. 496; 2d ed. 1882, No. 716; Birds N. W. 1874, 566. HENSH. Zool. Wheeler's 



Exp. 1875, 476. ElDGW. Orn. 40th Par. 1877, 623; Nom.N. Am. B. 1881, No. 609. 



B. B. & B. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 531. 

 Sarcella male de Cayenne, dite le tioucrourou, BUFF. PI. Enl. 966 (male ad.). 



HAB. North America in general, but chiefly the Eastern Province; north to Alaska, 

 south in winter throughout West Indies, Central America, and northern South 

 America as far as Ecuador. Accidental in Europe. 



SP. CHAE. Adult male: Head and neck dull plumbeous, slightly glossed with laven- 

 der-purple on the side of the occiput and nape, and marked in front of the eyes by a 

 large, somewhat crescentic, patch of white, extending entirely across 1 the anterior por- 

 tion of the head; pileum, chin, and feathers bordering the white patches, blackish; 

 lower parts pale chestnut, or reddish buffy, thickly spotted with black, the crissum uni- 

 form black. Back and anterior scapulars dusky, marked with concentric or U-shaped 

 bars of pale reddish buff; lesser wing-coverts and outer webs of some of the longer 

 scapulars pale blue; middle coverts white for the exposed portion, forming a bar across 

 the wing; speculum bronzy green, dusky terminally, with a very narrow white tip; ter- 



