ANATID.E— THE SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 131 



Subgenus Querquedula Stephens. 



Querquedula Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. ii, 1824,142. Type, Anas querquedula 



Linn. 

 Cyanopterus Eyton, Mon. Anat. 1838, 38. Type? (Not of Halliday, 1835.) 

 Pterocyanea Bonap. Cat. Met. 1842, 71. Type? 



Subgen. Char. Size small (wing less than 8 inches). Bill slightly longer than the 

 head, the edges nearly parallel, the maxillary tomium sinuated, so as to distinctly ex- 

 pose the lamellaa for the basal half, and the terminal half of the culmen slightly but dis- 

 tinctly arched. Otherwise much like Nettion. 



The two North American species of Querquedula agree very closely in the details of 

 form, in which respect they scarcely differ from the type of the genus, the Q. querquedula 

 of Europe. The coloration of the wing, which is almost exactly that of Spatula, is also 

 essentially the same in these three species. The females are very different from the 

 males, except in the colors of the wing, being much duller. The following are the main 

 differential characteristics of the North American species: 



1. A. discors. Adult male: Head and neck dull plumbeous, with a faint lavender- 

 purple gloss on the sides of the occiput; pileum blackish; a large white, some- 

 what crescent-shaped, mark before the eye, entirely across fore part of the head; 

 lower parts pale reddish, spotted with black. 



2. A. cyanoptera. Adult male: Head, neck, and lower parts rich uniform chestnut, 

 the abdomen duller (sometimes dusky), the pileum blackish. 



Anas discors Linn. 



THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



Popular synonyms. Blue-wing; White-face, or White-faced Teal; Summer Teal; Cer- 



ceta comun (Mexic >). 

 Anas discors Linn. S. N. ed. 12, i. lTf.G. 2<i5.-Wils. Am. Orn. viii, 1811, 71, pi. 08, fig. 



4.— Aud. Orn. Biog. iv, 1838, 111, pi. 313; Synop. 183'.), 282; B. Am. vi, 1813. 287, pi. 



393.— A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 140.— Ridgw. Man. N. Am. B. 1S87, 98. 

 Anas [Boschas) dixcors Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 444.— Nutt. Man. ii. lS:'.t. 397. 

 Querquedula discors Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. pt.il.1824, 149.— Baibd.B. N. 



Am. 1858, 779; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 581.— Coues, Key. 1872, 287; Check List. 



1873, No. 496; 2d ed. 1882, No. 716; Birds N. W. 1874, 566— Hensh. Zool. Wheeler's 



Exp. 1875. 476.— RlDGW. Orn. 40th Tar. 1877, 623; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 609.— 



B. B. & R. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 531. 

 Sarcella m&le de Cayenne, dite le Soucrourou, Buff. PI. Enl. 966 (male ad.). 



Hab. North America in general, but chiefly the Eastern Province; north td Alaska, 

 south in winter throughout Wesl fad ral America, and northern Smith 



America as far as Ecuador. Accidental in Europe. 



Sp. Char. Adult mah Head and neck dull plumbeous, slightly glossed with laven- 

 der-purple on tho side of the occiput ami nape, and marked in front of the eyes by a 

 large, somewhat . crescent ii\ patch of white, extending entirelj ■ anterior por- 



tion of the head; pileum, ohin, and feathers bordering the white patohes, blackish; 

 lower parts pale chestnut, <>r reddish buffy, thickly spotted with i>l:i--k. the oriseum uni- 

 form black. Back and anterior Bcapulars dusky, marked with concentric or (T-shaped 

 l>ars of pale reddish buff; lesser wing-coverts and outer webs of some of the longer 

 ■oapulare pale blue; middl white forth , forming a bar act 



the wing; Bpeoulum bronzy green, dusk] terminally, with a yery narrow white tip; ter- 



