122 BULLETIISr 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



QUERQUEDULA CYANOPTERA fVieillot). 

 CINNAMON TEAL. 

 HABITS. 



The "western champion, " as Dawson (1909) has aptly called this 

 species, holds a unique position among American ducks, for it is the 

 only member of the family that is confined to the western part of the 

 continent with its center of abundance west of the Rocky Mountains 

 and the only member of the family which has a regular breeding 

 range in South America separated from that in North America by a 

 wide gap of about 2,000 miles. The history of its discovery is also 

 interesting. Coues (1874) says: 



It has not often occurred that an abundant bird of North America has been first made 

 generally known from the extreme point of South America, and for a long time recog- 

 nized only as an inhabitant of that continent. Yet this species furnishes such a 

 case, having been early named by King Anas rafflesi, from a specimen taken in the 

 Straights of Magellan. It is, moreover, a singular fact, that it was first discovered 

 in the United States in a locality where it is of very imuaual and probably only 

 accidental occurrence. 



Subsequent to its discovery in Louisiana in 1849, it was afterwards 

 rediscovered, as a North American bird, and found to be one of the 

 most abundant species west of the Rocky Mountains, by the various 

 survey expeditions to the Pacific coast during the next 20 years. 



Spring. — The spring migration of the cinnamon teal is not a long 

 flight, for its winter and summer ranges overlap and it is absent in 

 winter from only the northern portion of its breeding range. The 

 northward movement begins in March and continues through April. 

 Dr. J. C. Merrill (1888) noted that, at Klamath, Oregon, "early in 

 May several flocks of this beautiful teal arrived, and before the end 

 of the month it was common in the marsh, mostly paired and not at 

 all shy." 



Courtship. — Mr. W. Leon Dawson has sent me the following notes 

 on the courtship of this species : 



Upon a little pond entirely surrounded by reeds I watched six or eight cinnamon 

 teals disporting themselves and indulging in courting antics. A male would follow 

 about very closely after his intended, and bob his head by alternately extending and 

 withdrawing his neck in a lively fashion. Now and then tho female would make 

 Bome alight acknowledgment in the same kind. In at least one instance I think I 

 appeared in the decisive moment, for from pretended indifferences a duck responded 

 to long bobs of inquiry with emphatic bobs of approval given face to face, and immedi- 

 ately thereafter joined her favored suitor in chasing away discredited rivals. The 

 males were repeatedly charging upon each other with open beaks, but it is hard to 

 think that they could or would do each other bodily harm. 



The teals, by the way, of both kinds, associate closely, so that the females of the 

 two species are sometimes confused by the observer, and the males exhibit some 

 jealousy toward each other, as though really fearing confusion of brides. A favorite 

 play on the part of these teals is leap-frog. A bird will vault into the air and pass 



