THE GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 



No. 287. 

 GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 



V I '. U. No. 139. Nettion carolinensis (Gmel.). 



Synonym. — American Green- winged Ti'.ai.. 



Description.- . [dull male: Head and upper neck bright chestnut, blacken- 

 ing on chin ; darker on forehead and crown, with a glossy green patch from and 

 including eye to nape, usually separated from chestnut below by a narrow white 

 lin< which is sometimes traceable to bill; a short occipital crest velvety purplish 

 black ; a crescentic white patch on side of breast before wing; sides of breast and 

 sides, hack, and scapulars continuous with narrow cervical collar, black and white 

 ai line wavy bars or vermiculations ; fore-neck and breast brownish buff, fading 

 1.1 silky while or bully on belly, heavily marked anteriorly with round spots, more 

 or less concealed, or not, according to age and season ( ?) ; wing-coverts, inter- 

 scapulars, tertiaries, rump, and posterior parts, slaty gray or fuscous with an oli- 

 vaceous or ochraceous tinge; speculum shining green, velvety purplish black mi 

 outer feathers, bounded in front by chestnut or fawn tips of greater coverts, be- 

 hind narrowl) by white, and on inner margin by abrupt black of outer ter- 

 tiary; crissum velvety purplish black with a partially enclosed creamy or buff 

 patch on either side; bill livid black; feet and legs dusky bluish; iris brown. 

 Adult f oiia!,-: Speculum substantially as in male; no other trace of pattern of 

 male save white patch on side of crissum ; upper parts brownish dusky tinged with 

 greenish and edged with lighter; head and neck dusky brown, streaked with och- 

 !■ n- above, elsewhere pale buffy, speckled with dusky; breasl and -ides brown- 

 ish dusky, ochraceous-brown. and whitish, the former in crescentic and U-shaped 

 marking-, and the whole suffused with brownish buffy; belly and crissum pale 

 buffy or brownish huffy, obscurely spotted and streaked with darker. Length 

 O 1 517.5 581.) ; av of six Columbus males: wing 7.08 ( 179.8) ; tail 2.6;; 

 "-..X, ; bill [.48 (37.6) ; tarsus 1.19 130.2). 



Recognition Marks. — The smallest duck ; chestnut and green head of male ; 

 black and shining green speculum, with size, distinctive. 



Nesting. — Xot known to breed in Ohio. Nest, mi the ground, of weeds and 

 lined with feathers and down. Eggs, 6-8, rarely [0-12, greenish buff or 

 buffy white. \v. size. 1.X2 x 127 (46.2 \ 32.31. 



General Range, — North America, breeding chiefly north of the United States, 

 .■ml migrating south to I [onduras and Cuba. 



Range in Ohio. — Xoi uncommon migrant. Formerly abundant. 



THE rare beauty of this diminutive duck is not likely to escape notice, 

 and its flesh has received a correspondingly high rating, altho it takes 

 two of them on a single plate to provide a meal for a hungry gunner. This 

 among the earliest migrants, following promptly the retreat of the 

 ice in late February ami early March, or gathering about the open spring 

 branches, upon the recurrence of ,1 cold snap. It is much less common than 

 formerly, and appears in twos and threes rather than in large flocks: these 

 mpanies may be found in the most unexpected places, — a wayside 

 ditch, a horse pond, or an isolated swamp pool. The bird obtains its food 

 large!) upon the land, walking with ease and grace. Fallen seeds, nuts. 



