116 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



below and above the wings; these come when the young bird is hardly 

 one-third grown, sometimes by the end of June. The growth of 

 feathers spreads over the breast first, then over the back and head, 

 the down disappearing late on the rump and last on the hind neck; 

 by the end of July the young teal is nearly fully grown and the whole 

 of the spotted juvenal plumage has been acquired except the wing 

 quills which are still in their sheaths. During August the wings and 

 and tail are acquired and before the end of that month the young 

 birds can fly. Before the wings are grown the sexes are practically 

 indistinguishable and both resemble the adult female except that 

 they are lighter colored bcknv and often nearly immaculate white on 

 the belly. 



During the fall and winter the young teal makes slow progess to- 

 ward maturity; the blue lesser wing coverts and the green speculum 

 arc acquired as soon as the wings are grown, but they are duller than 

 in adults; other changes come slowly until spring, when the first 

 nuptial ])lumage is assumed, hardly distinguishable from the adult 

 nuptial plumage, but the colors are all duller and the long blue-edged 

 scapulars are not yet developed. 



The first eclipse plumage is assumed in July and August; and at 

 this first complete postnuptial molt the young bird becomes indistin- 

 guishable from the adult, when about 14 months old. 



The ecHpse plumage in the adult involves the change of all the 

 contour feathers and the scapulars; it does not begin until July, is 

 complete in August, when the flight feathers are molted, and lasts 

 through September, In this plumage the male closely resembles the 

 female, but can always be recognized by the wings, in which no 

 marked seasonable change takes place. Adults are slow in shedding 

 the eclipse plumage, individuals varying greatly in this respect. The 

 full body plumage is seldom acquired before the middle of winter and 

 sometimes not until March, so that the gradual changes taking place 

 might be regarded as a prolonged prenuptial molt. 



Hybrids among the teals are not common, but Mr. William G. Smith 

 (1887) records a specimen, which he took in Colorado, "the whole 

 body color of the cinnamon teal, with the head the color, and snow- 

 white cheek marks distinctly, of the bluewing." 



Mr. Frederic H. Kennard (1919) has described, under the subspecific 

 name alhinucha, a supposed southern race of the blue-winged teal, 

 the sole distinguishing character being a continuation of the white 

 crescents over the eyes in thin superciliary lines down to the nape, 

 wher(! they join to form a white nuchal ]>atch. It docs not seem to 

 have been proven that all southern breeding teal are so marked, and 

 I have seen several northern breeding teal partially so marked. Mr. 

 Stanley C. Arthur (1920) records a case where a bird in captivity lost 

 this marking af^-^'" mohing into a new spring plumage. This mark- 



