NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS, 163 



Family ANATID.^. Genus Anas, 



Sub-family ANATINM. 



AMERICAN TEAL. 



Anas carolinensis, G?nelt7i. 

 (British : Very rare abnormal autumn migrant.) 

 Single Brooded probably. Laying season, June. 



Breeding area : Northern Nearctic region. The 

 American Teal breeds in the Arctic and sub-arctic 

 regions of North America, from the Aleutian Islands 

 and Alaska eastwards to Greenland, and southwards 

 through Canada to the more northern United States. 



Breeding habits : To its more northern breeding 

 places the American Teal is only a summer visitor, 

 returning to them in April and May. In winter it is 

 gregarious, but during the breeding season lives in 

 scattered pairs. Its favourite haunts are small pools, 

 and swamps in which the open sheets of water are 

 separated by strips of rough wet land, studded with 

 tussocks of grass and rushes. It is probable that this 

 Duck pairs for life, but nothing positive is known. The 

 nest is invariably placed on the ground, usually amongst 

 long coarse grass or rushes, often sheltered by a tuft of 

 vegetation, or amongst willow thickets. It is merely a 

 hollow carefully lined with scraps of dead herbage and 

 quantities of down and feathers. The bird sits closely, 

 when flushed flying straight away without demonstration. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the American Teal are from eight to ten 

 or even twelve in number, nine being an average clutch. 

 They are smooth in grain, polished, and creamy-white. 

 Average measurement, I'S inch in length by 1-3 inch 



