QUERQUEDULA CIRCIA 207 



QUERQUEDULA CIRCIA (LinnsBus). 

 GARGANEY TEAL. 



Anas circia, Linn. Sijst. Nat. i, p. 204 (1766). 



Querquedula circia, Stepli. Gen. Zool. xii, 2, p. 143, pi. 51 (1824) ; 

 Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mas. xxvii, p. 293 ; Koenig, J.f. 0. 1888, 

 p. 296; id. J. (. 0. 1893, p. 101 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1895, p. 105. 



Anas cyanopterus, Malherbc, Faune Orn. de I'Alg. p. 36 (1855). 



A. querquedula, Malherbe, Faune Orn. do I'Alg. p. 36 (1855). 



Pterocyanea circia, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 376 (1867). 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from North Tunisia. 



Forehead, crown and nape dark brown, banded on each side with a white 

 stripe extending from the eye bacliward to tlie nape ; chin blackish ; sides of 

 the head and neck cliestnut-brown, minutely striated with white ; back 

 brown, the feathers edged with grey ; rump bluisli-blaok, vermiculated with 

 white bars ; tail brown, margined with whitish ; scapulars, which are very 

 elongated, black, with a median white stripe to each feather ; upper wing- 

 coverts pale French-grey, the greater coverts tipped with white ; secondaries 

 with a metallic-green bar tipped with white, forming a speculum ; primaries 

 greyish-brown; breast yellowish-brown, finely marked with crescent-shaped 

 blackish bands ; abdomen white ; flanks and crissum white, finely barred 

 with blackisli ; under tail-coverts white, spotted with blackish. 



Iris brown ; bill and feet dark brown. 



Total length 1350 inches, wing 8, culmen 1-80, tarsus 1'20. 



Adult female not unlike the female of the common Teal, but differs in 

 its larger size, and in its wider bill. 



The adult male in summer assumes a plumage resembling that of the 

 adult female, but may be always distinguished by the alar speculum and 

 brightly coloured upper wing-coverts. 



The Garganey, or Summer Teal, appears to be somewhat local in 

 its distribution and more or less irregular in its appearance in many 

 of the countries where it occurs. In Tunisia it is, as a rule, very 

 plentiful during the spring migration, arriving in large flocks in March 

 and April, and according to Blanc, it is also to be found in the 

 Begency in certain numbers in autumn and winter, although never 

 very abundant at those seasons. Blanc is of opinion that the species 

 breeds in that country. 



Loche states that this Teal is very common in Algeria, and from 

 what be says of the species often uniting in large flocks in the 

 autumn and remaining together until the spring, it may be inferred 

 that it is to be found in Algeria throughout the winter. According to 



