92 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



Range. — North America. Breeds from New Brunswick and Minnesota to 

 Greenland and Alaska; winters from Virginia, Kansas and British 

 Columbia to the West Indies and Central America. 



History. 



This species probably was never as abundant in New Eng- 

 land as was the Blue-winged Teal, but it was once very 

 common and at times abundant. Thomas Morton (1632), 

 who lived at Mount Wollaston, Quincy, Mass., speaks of 

 both the Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal, and says that 

 he " had plenty " in the ponds about his house. Trustworthy 

 old gunners have told me of remarkable flights in Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut up to the middle of the last century. 



Possibly its breeding range once extended into New Eng- 

 land. The following abbreviated extracts from the works of 

 ornithologists indicate its decrease: In autumn and winter 

 very common throughout the waters of the United States 

 (Nuttall, 1834). Have seen individuals breeding on the banks 

 of the Wabash, Illinois (Audubon, 1835). Breeds along the 

 Great Lakes and northwardly (De Kay, 1844). Common in 

 migration (Maynard, eastern Massachusetts, 1870). Quite 

 abundant in migration in New England; probably breeds in 

 northern portions (Samuels, 1870). Common spring and 

 autumn migrant (J. A. Allen, 1879). Quite common in the 

 east in migrations (Chamberlain, 1891). Has become rare of 

 late years, except in wilder portions of Maine (Hoffman, New 

 England and New York, 1904). Uncommon transient visitor 

 (Townsend, Essex County, 1905). Uncommon transient; met 

 with regularly in former years; know of but two instances in 

 last fifteen years (Brewster, Cambridge region, 1906). 



My correspondents report upon this species as follows: 

 six note it as increasing; seventy-one as decreasing. The 

 species is reported from every county in the State, but is 

 apparently least rare in the coast counties. The opinion 

 that it is decreasing is practically unanimous among gunners 

 of long experience. Similar statements come from the entire 

 Atlantic seaboard, except from Maryland, where Mr. Talbot 

 Denmead reports " a great many." Mr. Clement A. Cahoon 



