TEAL. 



189 



the females, till they acquired new feathers at the autumn 

 moult. The female has the whole of tlie head speckled with 

 dark brown, on a ground colour of light brown ; upper part 

 of back and the scapulars dark brown, each feather with two 

 narrow transverse bars of bufFy-brown ; wing like the male, 

 but the speculum has more velvet black, less green, and no 

 purple colour ; chin pale brown ; lower part of neck on the 

 front and sides varied with two shades of brown, in crescentic 

 marks ; breast white ; sides, flanks, belly, and under tail- 

 coverts dull white, spotted with dark brown. 



Many persons have doubtless observed the yellow tinge on 

 the white feathers of the breast in the Teal, Wigeon, Pin- 

 tail, Wild Duck, and other wild water fowl, exposed for sale 

 at the poulterers"* shops. When buying birds for the table I 

 have usually selected examples so marked, believing them to 

 be young birds of the year, and have not been disappointed 

 in their qualities as food. 



The trachea of the male Teal is about five inches in 

 length, the tube rather narrower near the middle than at any 

 other part ; the bony enlargement of the size and form repre- 

 sented in the figure below. 



