112 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Courtship. — The courtship of the blue-winged teal is largely per- 

 formed on the wing much after the manner of the black duck, a nup- 

 tial chase as it were, of which Mr. Ernest E. Thompson (1890) says: 



I have frequently remarked that during the breeding season this species may be 

 seen coursing over and around the ponds in threes, and these when shot usually 

 prove a male and two females. After dark they may be identified during these 

 maneuvers by their swift flight and the peculiar chirping, almost a twittering, that 

 they indulge in as they fly. 



Nesting. — The breeding range of the blue-winged teal has been 

 materially reduced in area during the past 50 years by the increasing 

 settlement of the Middle West, the encroachments of agriculture on 

 its breeding grounds, and by the constant persecution by gunners of 

 an unsuspicious and desirable game bird. Although it formerly bred 

 abundantly throughout all the Middle and Northern States east of 

 the Rocky Mountains, it is now mainly restricted to the prairie 

 regions of the northern United States and Canada, with only a few 

 scattering pairs left in the eastern and southern portions of its breed- 

 ing range. TVe found a few pairs breeding in the East Point marshes 

 in the Magdalen Islands, and only a few are left in eastern Canada and 

 south of the Great Lakes. In North Dakota it was still abundant 

 in 1901 ; this, with the pintail and shoveller, were the three common- 

 est ducks; almost every little pond hole, creek, or grassy slough con- 

 tained one or more pairs of blue-winged teal, and we could see the 

 pretty little ducks swimming in pairs, close at hand among the vege- 

 tation or springing into the air as we drove past. 



Here their nests are generally well concealed in the long prairie 

 grass growing around the borders of the sloughs and small pond holes, 

 almost always on dry ground but not far from the water; they are 

 sometimes located in moist meadows bordering such places, where 

 the grass is long and thick enough to conceal them. I found one 

 nest in an open place where the dead grass had been beaten down 

 quite flat; it was beautifully concealed from view under the grass. 

 They also nest sparingly with the baldpates and lesser scaup ducks 

 on the islands. The nest of the blue-winged teal is well built; a 

 hollow is made in the ground and filled with a thick soft lining of 

 fine grass mixed with down, on which the eggs are laid, and the 

 grass is arched over it for concealment; as incubation advances 

 more down is added until a thick blanket is provided, v.'hich the 

 female uses to cover the eggs when she leaves them. The nests are 

 so well concealed that comparatively few are found, considering the 

 abundance of the species. 



In Saskatchewan in 1905 and 1906 the blue-winged teal was one 

 of the most abundant of the ducks; we found 16 nests in all on 

 dates ranging from June 13 to July 9; the nests were on the islands 

 and in the meadows near the lakes, similar in location and construe- 



