ANATID.E. 433 



THE AMERICAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 

 Nettion carolinense (J. F. Gnielin). 



An adult male of this species was shot on November 23rd 1879 

 on an arm of the Kingsbridge estuary, South Devon ; and was ex- 

 hibited by me on behalf of its owner, Mr. H. Nicholls, at a meeting 

 of the Zoological Society on December 4th 1888. In 'The Zoo- 

 logist ' for 1852, Mr. (now Colonel) John Evans recorded the occur- 

 rence of an adult male near Scarborough in November 1851 ; 

 a specimen which passed into the collection of the late Lord Hill. 

 Mr. Arthur Fellowes stated (Zool. 1880, p. 70) that he possessed an 

 example shot by his father 'more than forty years ago' at Hurst- 

 bourne Park, Hants, and he correctly described the essential feature 

 of its plumage. The species has never been kept in the Gardens of 

 the Zoological Society of London, nor, as far as I am aware, in 

 any other part of Europe up to the present (July, 1898). 



The Green-winged Teal, so called to distinguish it from the Blue- 

 winged representative of our Garganey in America (the subject of 

 the next article), is generally distributed over the northern portions 

 of the New World in summer, and also visits Greenland ; while in 

 winter its migrations extend to the Bermudas and West Indies, 

 Mexico and Central America. Its nidification and general habits 

 resemble those of our Common Teal ; and owing to the superior 

 quality of its food, which consists of rice, wild oats, fallen grapes &c., 

 its flesh is remarkably delicate. The eggs, 7-12 in number, are 

 buffish-white : measurements I'S by i"2 5 in. 



The adult male differs from our Teal in having a broad crescentic 

 band of finely vermiculated greyish-white feathers on each side of 

 the breast in front of the folded wing, while the buffish-white lines 

 which run from the beak to and round the green eye-patch are very 

 slightly defined ; the pencilling of the whole plumage also is more 

 minute. Length i4'5 in. ; wing 7-25 in. The female so closely 

 resembles that of our Teal that I am unable to give any specific 

 characters. 



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