62 HISTORY OF THE 



bills the moment their heads appear above the water, and hurry- 

 ing away to swallow at their leisure the food so cleverly stolen. 



I have several times noticed the birds' in Kansas during the 

 summer months, and from the actious of a female that I saw 

 June 26, 1881, at a pond near Wallace, I knew that she had 

 young birds hidden in the thick, tall rushes growing in the cen- 

 ter of the pond; and they may occasionally breed within their 

 range, but their natural breeding grounds are in the northern 

 portion of the United States, and northward to the Arctic Ocean, 



Their nests are placed in a bunch of grass or under a bush, 

 on dry ground, often quite a distance from the water; a mere 

 depression lined with grasses, leaves and down. A set of six 

 eggs, taken June, 1887, at Manitoba, measure: 2.01:xl.45, 2.05x 

 1.47, 2.02x1.45, 2.07x1.44, 2.02x1.43, 2.06x1.45; cream or 

 buff white; in form, oval to ovate. 



Subgenus NETTION Kaup. 



"Bill shorter than the head, narrow, depressed (except at base), the edges 

 parallel; tarsus shorter than the bill or middle toe; nape with a small mane-like 

 tuft; rectrices more or less acuminated, the middle pair longest." 



Anas carolinensis GMELm. 



GREEN- WINGED TEAL. 

 PLATE V. 



Winter sojourner; rare; in migration, abundant. Leave m 

 April; return in September. 



B. 579. R. 612. C. 715. G. 290, 28. U. 139. 



Habitat. North America in general, breeding chiefly north 

 of the United States; south in winter to Central America and 



Cuba. 



Sp. Chae. '■'■Adult male: Head and neck rich chestnut rufous, inclosing a 

 broad patch of soft, dark metallic green on each side of the occiput, from the eye 

 (which it surrounds) down the sides of the nape, where the two areas of the 

 opposite sides touch a short nuchal crest of bluish black. The green patch 

 bordered anteriorly and beneath by a yellowish white line, and a less distinct 

 line of the same bordering the base of the upper mandible, extending thence 

 back to, and indistinctly following for a short distance, the upper anterior por- 

 tion of the green patch. Chin and upper part of the throat dull black. Front 

 of the jugulum deep pinkish cream color, with roundish and transversely ovate 

 spots of black. Collar around the lower neck, sides of the jugulum, sides and 

 flanks very delicately and beautifully undulated with black upon a white ground; 



