DUCKS 



12.-, 



Others were under low bushes at the drier edges 

 of meadows, back from the lake almost to the 

 forest. 



On a large island of a big alkaline lake in 

 Saskatchewan it was my good fortune to dis- 

 cover my first nest of this species, which made 

 the twentieth kind of Duck whose nesting 1 had 

 discovered. The island was high and dry, open, 

 overgrown with prairie grass and tracts of low- 

 brush. Many kinds of Ducks were nesting here 

 and they kept flushing from their eggs close in 

 front of me as I tramped about — Pintails, Gad- 

 walls, Shovellers, Mallards, both Scaups, Blue- 

 winged Teals, and others. Suddenly up fluttered 

 a small dtick with green on the wings. In the 

 thick of the grass was a nest lined with soft 

 down, containing a complement of eggs. 



I have hatched and reared the young and find 

 them hardy and easy to manage, 



Herbert K. Job. 



'■ The Green-winged Teal is fond of wild oats 

 and rice, and takes seeds of various .grasses and 

 weeds, also chestnuts, acorns, wild grapes, ber- 

 ries, insects, crustaceans, worms, and small snails. 

 Audubon states that he never found water 

 lizards, fish, or even tadpoles in stomachs of this 

 Teal. He regarded it, when fed upon soaked 

 rice or wild oats, as far superior to the Canvas- 

 back, and considered it the most luscious food 

 of any American Duck. Possiblv it might be 

 domesticated to advantage, as it has been bred in 

 captivity in a small way." (Forbush, in Game 

 Birds. irild-Po-a'l and Shore Birds.) 



BLUE-WINGED TEAL 

 Querquedula discors {Li}iU(rus) 



A. O V. Xiimber lao See Color Plate 14 



Other Names. — Blue-wing; White-faced Teal; .Sum- 

 mer Teal. 



General Description. — Length, 16 inches. Males are 

 variegated dark and light brown above, and purpli.sh- 

 gray and yellowish-gray below with spots of black. 



Females are dark brown above, variegated with lighter, 

 and whitish below, mottled with brown. 



Color. — .\dult M.\le: Crown, grayish-black: (7 large 

 "icliife I'lack-rdgcd crescent in front of eye; rest oi: 

 head, purplish-gray; lower hind-neck and fore-back, 







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I .1 1. .11,' jLLimJ.. »R. "SPPspR >,aBw?;.. 



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Photo by H. K. Job 



Cuurtesy ot' iSat. Asso. Aud. Soc. 



FLIGHT OF BLUE-WINGED TEALS 



Louisiana 



