146 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 
the male emits a long ifffected note, plaintive and 
exquisitely pure in sound—a more melodious note 
it would be difficult to find even among the songsters. 
BRAZILIAN TEAL 
Querquedula brasiliensis 
Above brown; head more rufous; lower back, tail, and lesser 
wing-coverts black; wings brownish black; outer webs of inner 
primaries and the secondaries shining bronze-green; broad tips of 
outer secondaries white, divided from the green area by a black band ; 
beneath paler, breast washed with rusty red; bill and feet orange ; 
length 15.5, wing 7 inches. 
Tuis richly coloured Teal, which is widely extended 
in South America from Guiana down to the Straits 
of Magellan, is usually met with in pairs near Buenos 
Ayres, although as many as five or six are sometimes 
seen together. In habits it is a tree-Duck, preferring 
water-courses in the neighbourhood of woods, and 
is frequently seen perched on horizontal branches. 
The flight is slow and with the wings very much 
depressed, as in a Duck about to alight on the water ; 
and the beautiful blue, green, and white speculum is 
thus rendered very conspicuous. The note of the 
male in the love-season is a long, plaintive whistle, 
singularly pure and sweet in sound, and heard usually 
in the evening. 
It is a rather curious coincidence that the ver- 
nacular name of this Teal in La Plata should be 
Pato Portugués, which means, as things are under- 
stood in that region, Brazilian Duck. 
