126 ANSERIFORMES CHAP. 
Kuril Islands, winters in North Africa, India, Ceylon, Siam, China, 
and Japan, and wanders to North America. The head is chestnut 
with a green eye-patch enclosed by a buffish line, the upper parts 
are vermiculated with black and white, the speculum is black, 
green, and purple with a whitish border, the chest is buff with 
black spots, the under parts are white. WV. carolinense of North 
America, which strays to Europe—including Britain, has a white 
crescent on each side of the breast. WV. formoswm of East Siberia, 
met with in winter in China, and accidentally in India, Italy, and 
France, has the head varied with black, green, buff, and white, a 
bluish wash on the back and chest, a speculum of buff, green, and 
white. In these three species the female is mottled with brown 
and rufous, and has a duller speculum. JV. castaneum of Australia 
and New Zealand, recorded from Celebes and Java, the doubtful 
N. gibberifrons of the Malay Archipelago, VV. albigulare of the 
Andamans, WV. bernieri of Madagascar, V. capense of South and 
East Africa, NV. flavirostre of America south of Southern Brazil 
and Chili, V. andium of Ecuador and Venezuela, V. georgicum ot 
South Georgia, WV. punctatum of South and East Africa with 
Madagascar, V. brasiliense of South America generally, and JV. 
torquatum of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, complete the 
genus. Teal are fresh-water Ducks, feeding chiefly at night 
on water-plants, seeds, worms, and insects; they are rather silent, 
and have not the rattlng spring-note of the Garganey. The 
nest is in both cases usually placed at some distance from water 
in grass, rushes, or heather, the eight to ten eggs being greenish 
in the Teal and cream-coloured in the Garganey. 
Mareca penelope, the Wigeon, which breeds in Scotland, and 
ranges across North Europe and Asia to Alaska, occurring in 
winter as far south as Madeira, Abyssinia, Borneo, or even 
Polynesia, and occasionally on the American coasts, has a rufous 
head with buff crown, blackish throat and quill-feathers, white 
upper parts vermiculated with black, white wing-coverts and 
lower surface, and a green speculum with a black edge. The female 
is mottled with brown and rufous above, and has a grey-green 
speculum, and buffish lower parts. This species, which has a 
whistling cry, whence it is termed “ Whew,” feeds chiefly by day 
on grass-wrack and the like when frequenting the mud-flats in 
winter; the nest is among dry heather or rushes, and contains 
from seven to ten greenish-buff eggs. JZ americana, of North 
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