of America and Britain* 



Green.winged Teal of North America, 



with the bar of white in the shoulder, which is never seen in the 

 British teal ; thus perpetuating an error, or at least giving a 

 representation of the American bird accompanying the de- 

 scription of the British species. An accurate engraving of 

 the latter may be found in Bewick, similar to the one here 

 supplied. 



In the Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Cor- 

 respondence of the Zoological Society of London, Colonel 

 Sykes mentions the ^^nas Crecca, or common teal, as being 

 found in the Dukhun, and that his specimens appeared 

 identical with male and female British specimens. He has 

 also in his possession specimens resembling the ^^nas Crecca, 

 but in which the proportional length of the intestinal canal 

 differs so much from that of the yi^nas Crecca (3*30 to 1, and 

 5*57 to l), that he is induced to believe that they may belong 

 to a distinct species. Now, it would be well worthy of attention, 

 to ^have the relative length of the intestinal canal of the 

 American species (^oschas carolinensis Jar dine) compared 

 with that stated by Colonel Sykes, lest the teal found in 

 Dukhun may be the same as the American, and not the 

 European, as now supposed. 



I do not mean to say that the length of the intestinal canal 

 should be a sufficient datum to constitute a new species, but 

 the difference in plumage may have been overlooked, as has 

 been hitherto done, and the species thus confounded. It 

 seems to me much more probable that the American and 

 Indian species should be the same, than that the American 

 should differ from both the Indian and European, and these 

 latter be similar. 



I merely throw out these hints to induce further investi- 

 gation ; and, should they lead some one to pursue the subject 

 farther, they will not have been made in vain. 



James Drummond Marshall, M.D. 

 Belfast, Sept. 20. 1833. 



