282 Allen's naturalist's library. 



Kange in Great Britain. — In the winter of 1837-38, Mr. Bartlett 

 secured a specimen of the American Wigeon from a market in 

 London. He preserved the bird, which afterwards passed into 

 the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney. In these days of freezing- 

 chambers on board ship, the presence of a foreign Duck in 

 an English market would be absolutely worthless as evidence of 

 the occurrence of the species within the British area, but sixty 

 years ago the modes of transit were not so easy, and the appear- 

 ance of an American Wigeon among a lot of English Wigeon 

 may be taken as sound evidence that the specimen had been 

 procured within British limits. The few other records of the 

 occurrence of the species in Great Britain all appear to be un- 

 trustworthy, though its capture once in France and again in 

 the Azores is authentic. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The American Wigeon 

 breeds in the arctic portion of North America, occasionally as 

 far south as the Northern United States. In winter it extends 

 to the Southern States, Mexico, and the West Indies. 



Hahits. — Similar to those of M. penelope. 



Nest. — Like that of M. penelope. 



Eggs. — Pale buff. Axis, 2*06 inches; diam., \\\'^i^Ridgiva}'). 



THE TEAL. GENUS NETTION. 



Nettion^ Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 95 (1829). 



Type, N. crecca (L.). 



Though resembling the Wigeon in the character of the bill, 

 which has the lamellae of the upper mandible scarcely at all 

 prominent, the Teal differ in having the bill moderate, and 

 graduated towards the tip, where it becomes more rounded and 

 broader than in the species of Mareca ; the scapulars and inner 

 secondaries are longer and narrower than in that genus, and 

 the coloration of the two sexes is distinctly different. 



Fifteen species are recognised by Count Salvadori, and the 

 range of the i^enus is cosmopolitan. 



