42 2 BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



QUERQUEDULA DISCORS (Linnffius). 



In 'The Naturalist,' viii. (1858), p. 168, Mr. W. G. Gibson, writing 

 from Dumfries, says, without naming any month, " a specimen of 

 the Blue-winged Teal {Anas discors) was shot here a iQ.\i weeks ago." 

 This bird, erroneously stated by the late Mr. R. Gray to have been 

 killed in January 1863, afterwards passed into the collection of 

 Sir William Jardine, and has recently been acquired by the Edin- 

 burgh Museum ; it is a male and undoubtedly genuine. The same 

 cannot be said for the bird recorded under this name in ' The Zoo- 

 logist ' for 1 88 2 (p. 92), which is an immature male of our Garganey. 

 Until recently the American bird was not known as an introduced 

 species on European ornamental waters, but in November 1884, as 

 Mr. Bartlett informs me, one was sent to the Zoological Gardens by 

 the late M. Cornely of Tours, who probably had others. An adult 

 male was shot near Saby in Denmark, about the middle of April 

 1886 (Oluf Winge). 



The Blue-winged Teal is a more southern s])ecies than the preceding, 

 and more restricted in its distribution, being seldom met with north 

 of lat. 60° ; while it is very local on the Pacific coast. It breeds, in 

 suitable localities, from Labrador to Florida, and from the Saskat- 

 chewan to Mazatlan, as well as abundantly in the Mississippi valley J 

 and in winter its migrations extend to the Bermudas, Mexico, 

 the West Indies, and Guatemala. The eggs, 8-12 in number, are 

 described as of a clear ivory-white, without the slightest tinge of 

 green: average measurements i"9 by i'3 in. Its food and habits 

 do not differ materially from those of its American congener. 



The adult male has the throat, forehead and crown dark lead- 

 colour ; in front of the eye a long crescentic patch of white ; cheeks 

 and neck dull lavender-grey; back mottled with reddish-bufif ; lesser 

 wing-coverts lapis-lazuli blue (far more vivid than in our Garganey) ; 

 on the wing a white bar, followed by a bronze-green speculum ; 

 under parts pale reddish ; bill black ; feet yellowish. Length 16 in. ; 

 wing 7*25 in. The female is mottled with dull brown and buff, and 

 has only an indistinct eye-stripe. 



