310 ANATID^ : SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 



GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 



QUERQUEDULA CAROLINENSIS {Giu) Stcpk. 



Chars. Male : subcrested ; head and upper neck chestnut, with a 

 broad glossy green band on each side, whitish-bordered, uniting 

 and blackening on the nap'e ; under parts white, the fore breast 

 with circular black spots ; upper parts and flanks closely waved 

 with blackish and white ; crissum black, varied with white or 

 creamy ; speculum rich green, bordered in front with buffy tips of 

 the greater coverts, behind with white tips of the secondaries ; 

 no blue on the wing ; bill black ; feet gray. A conspicuous 

 white crescent on the side of the body just in front of the bend 

 of the wing ; scapulars plain. Female differs especially in 

 the head-markings, but those of the wings are the same. Small ; 

 length, 14.00-15.00; wing, 7.50; tail, 3.50; bill, 1.50; tarsus, 

 1.25. 



These small and elegant Ducks, notable both for the 

 beauty of their plumage and the excellence of their 

 flesh, are among the commonest of the 

 migratory species. They scnietimes ap- 

 pear in March, but more numerously in 

 April, and are among the earliest to re- 

 turn in the fall, sometimes even appear- 

 ing in August, and always by September. 

 The nest is placed upon the ground, built 

 of hay and lined with feathers ; the eggs 

 Fig. 65. -Green, are about eight in number, pale dull green- 



wiNGED Teal. . , . , . ^ 



ish m color, measunng from 1.75 to 1.90 

 in length by 1.20 to 1.30 in breadth. 



Note. The European Teal, Q. crecca, has been erroneously attrib- 

 uted to New England (see Pr. Bost. Soc, v, 1855, p. 195 ; Bull. 

 Nutt. Club, ii, 1877, pp. 13 and 46; Bull. Essex Inst., x, 1878, 

 P- 34)- 



