GARGANEY 



297 



necks and up-raised tails. Silent as a rule, and wary in the extreme, 

 when alarmed they give vent to a low and soft quack. As a table- 

 bird the pintail is unsurpassed ; and even in India, where most ducks 

 are at times more or less uneatable, there is never any fear with 

 regard to the flesh of the pintail. 



Q In the older ornithological works the true teal were 



(Querquedula included in the same genus as the garganeys, or, as 



j J \ they are often called, summer-teal, or blue-winged 



teal ; but the former are now generally referred to 



a genus apart on account of many differences in colouring and 



structure, while they also differ in their habits. As distinctive features 



HE ROWLAND WARD STUDIOS 



GARGANEY (DUCK AND DKAKK 



of the garganeys (of which there are five species, one Old World, 

 two North American, and two South American), may be mentioned 

 the broader and somewhat terminally-expanded beak, of which the 

 edges near the tip are furnished with a soft membrane, and the blue 

 or bluish-grey tint of the upper wing-covcrts. In both these respects 

 garganeys approximate to the shovellers. In the white stripe on 

 the side of the neck the garganey drake resembles the male pintail, 

 but in the present species this stripe is extended forwards to 

 include the eye. 



