GARGANEY. 395 



grain when procurable, insects and their larvie, small frogs, 

 worms, &c. ; also, when on the sea-coast or tidal waters, 

 small crustaceans and mollusks. For the table this Duck 

 is not, as a rule, a remarkably good bird. Its flight is very 

 rapid ; it swims well, and altogether it is a very active 

 species. Its usual note, a harsh knack, is loud for the size 

 of the bird ; and in the spring the drake makes a peculiar 

 jarring noise, like that of a child's rattle ; whence the name 

 of ' Crick ' or ' Cricket Teal ' in East Anglia, and Krikand 

 in Denmark. 



The adult male, in March, has the bill black ; the irides 

 hazel ; the forehead, top of the head, and occiput, dark 

 brown, forming a stripe which ends in a point half way 

 down the neck behind ; over the eye and ear-coverts, on each 

 side, and passing to the back of the neck, under the dark 

 brown stripe, is a stripe of white ; cheeks, and sides of 

 the neck nutmeg-brown, varied with short hair-like lines 

 of white ; the back dark brown, each feather edged with 

 lighter brown ; scapulars elongated, black, with a central 

 stripe of white ; wing-coverts bluish-grey ; speculum dull 

 green margined with white ; primaries brownish-black ; 

 tertials bluish-grey ; tail greyish-brown ; chin black ; neck 

 in front, and the whole of the breast, dark brown, with pale 

 brown crescentic bands ; belly white ; sides and flanks varied 

 with transverse black lines bounded by two broad bands ; 

 under tail-coverts mottled black and white ; legs, toes, and 

 their membranes greyish-brown. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., 

 states that the male Garganey remains for an unusually 

 long period in the plumage of the female. 



The whole length is sixteen inches. From the carpal 

 joint to the end of the wing seven inches and tliree-quarters ; 

 the first quill-feather the longest. 



Females are smaller than males, and have the whole of 

 the head brown, with darker spots and lines ; over the eye 

 a light yellowish-white band ; back, scapulars, and inner 

 secondaries dark brown, with ferruginous edges and white 

 tips ; wing-coverts greyish-brown ; speculum very dull me- 

 tallic green, between two bars of white ; chin white ; breast 



