102 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



and south in decreasing numbers to the Mediterranean, the Azores, 

 Turkestan, Mongolia, and the Amur Valley. East to the Kurile and 

 Aleutian Islands, as far east as Unalaska. 



Winter range. — South to the Canary Islands, Madeira, Abyssinia, 

 Sokotra, Persia, India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Formosa, and the Philip- 

 pine Islands. North as far as open water is to be found. Appar- 

 ently resident in the Aleutian Islands or migrating westward into 

 Asia. 



Casual records. — Accidental in Spitsbergen, Greenland, Labrador 

 (Coues record, July 23, 1860, and Hamilton Inlet, no date given), 

 Nova Scotia and northeastern United States (Maine, Casco Bay, April 

 6, 1893; Massachusetts, Muskeget Island, March 16, 1890, and Saga- 

 more, February 20, 1896; Connecticut, East Hartford, November 14, 

 1889; New York, Cayuga Lake, April 10, 1902 and Merrick, Long 

 Island, December 17, 1900; Virginia, Potomac River, 1885). Cali- 

 fornia records are indefinite. 



Egg dates. — Great Britain: Nine records. May 3 to June 13. Ice- 

 land: Thirteen records, May 1 to July 8; seven records. May 24 to 

 June 8. Aleutian Islands: One record, June 8. 



NETTION CAROLINENSE (Gmelin). 



OBEEN-WINGED TEAL. 



HABITS. 



Spring. — Following close on the heels of the pintail and the mal- 

 lard, the hardy little green-winged teal is one of the earliest migrants 

 to start in the spring for its northern breeding grounds. It begins 

 to leave its winter haunts in the lower Mississippi Valley in February, 

 proceeding slowly northward, and the first arrivals appear in its sum- 

 mer home in northern Alaska early in May. Dr. F. Henry Yorke 

 (1899) says: 



The first issue arrives a day or two after the pintails and follows up the ri\ ers, lakes, 

 and sloughs, usually preferring the edges of muddy banks. This issue stays only a 

 short time and departs before the second arrives, usually about four or five days 

 intervening; the second issue spreads over the country and is often joined by the 

 third, staying for several w^eeks before they travel northward. At times the third 

 issue is delayed, probably, by overflowed lands in the south, where food is found in 

 abundance; in such cases Ihe third issue rushes by, or stays only a day or two late 

 in the season. 



Courtship. — Many of the birds are paired before the breeding 

 grounds are reached as there is ample time for courtship during the 

 leisurely migration : the warmth of returning spring stirs the amorous 

 instincts of the males and prompts them to strut before the females, 

 displaying their handsome colors in fantastic attitudes. The per- 

 formance is the same as that of the European teal, as described by 

 Millais (1902) an excellent account of which is given under that species. 



