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BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



QuERQUEDULA Di'scoRS (Linnaeus). 



In 'The Naturalist,' viii. (1858). p. 168, Mr. W. G. Gibson, writing 

 from Dumfries, says, without naming any month, " a specimen of 

 the Blue-winged Teal {A?ias discors) was shot here a few weeks ago." 

 This bird, erroneously stated by the late Mr. R. Gray to have been 

 killed in January 1863, afterwards passed into the collection of 

 the late Sir William Jardine, and was subsequently acquired by the 

 Edinburgh Museum ; it is a male and undoubtedly genuine. The 

 same cannot be said for the bird recorded under this name in ' The 

 Zoologist' for 1882 (p. 92), which is an immature male of our 

 Garganey. 



According to Mr. Oluf Winge, an adult male was shot near Saby 

 in Denmark, about the middle of April 1886. I am not aware 

 that this species has yet been introduced on ornamental waters in 

 Europe; for the bird mentioned in my ist Edition (p. 422), as 

 having been sent from Tours, proved to be the Cinnamon Teal, 

 Q. cyanoptera. 



The Blue-winged Teal has a more southern habitat than the pre- 

 ceding, being seldom met with north of lat. 60°, while it is very local 

 on the Pacific coast. It breeds, in suitable localities, from Labrador 

 to Florida, and from the Saskatchewan to Mazatlan, as well as abund- 

 antly in the Mississippi valley ; and in winter its migrations extend 

 to the Bermudas, Mexico, the West Indies, and Guatemala. The 

 eggs, 8-12 in number, are pale buff: measurements i"85 by 1*35 in. 

 The food and habits do not differ materially from those of the pre- 

 ceding species. 



The adult male has the throat, forehead and crown dark lead- 

 colour ; in front of the eye a long crescef-ific patch of white ; cheeks 

 and neck dull lavender-grey ; back mottled with reddish-buff; lesser 

 wing-coverts lapis-lazuli blue (far more vivid than in our Garganey) ; 

 on the wing a white bar, followed by a bronze-green patch ; under 

 parts pale reddish; bill black; feet yellowish. Length i6in. : 

 wing 7*5 in. The female is mottled with dull brown and buff, and 

 has only an indistinct eye-stripe. 



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