772 THE GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 
sociable is the bird’s disposition, that a lone Baldpate will often return to the 
decoys after several shots have been fired at him. Their bump of curiosity is 
also unquestionably developed to an abnormal extent, for I have crawled to 
within a couple of hundred yards of a flock and lured them up to within ten 
yards of me simply by lighting a pipe and puffing a cloud of smoke into the 
air at short intervals. 
Their principal call is a lisping, throaty whistle, repeated three times in 
quick succession. It is surprisingly light in character for the size of the bird, 
and serves to confirm the bird's position on the list next to the Teals. Altho 
quite impossible to describe, the note is rather easily imitated when heard a few 
times, and frequently proves a valuable addition to the repertoire of the wild- 
fowl hunter. The only other note I have heard them utter is a low, short 
chattering, somewhat resembling that of the Pintail, but greatly reduced in 
volume. Their quacks, or squawks, of alarm also express the limit of terror, 
but are still pathetically inadequate in comparison with those, say, of a hen 
Mallard. 
Altho these birds remain in the Puget Sound country until late in May, 
it is very doubtful if any raise their young. In the lake region of the central 
part of the State, however, they occur in limited numbers during the breeding 
season, and it is practically certain that they nest there, altho no eggs have 
actually been reported. 
Hunters should carefully examine all of these birds that they kill, for, if 
one is found with the head largely suffused with red-brown, it is unquestion- 
ably the European Widgeon, a very rare visitor from across the ocean. 
J. H. Bow es. 
No. 310. 
GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 
Li ©. U. No. 139. Nettion carolinensis (Gmel.). 
Synonym.—AMERICAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 
Description.—dult male: Head and upper neck bright chestnut, blacken- 
ing on chin; darker on forehead and crown, with a glossy green patch from and 
including eye to nape, usually separated from chestnut below by a narrow white 
line which is sometimes traceable to bill; a short occipital crest velvety purplish 
black; a crescentic white patch on side of breast before wing; sides of breast and 
sides, back, and seapulars continuous with narrow cervical collar, black and white 
in fine wavy bars or vermiculations; fore-neck and breast brownish buff, fading 
to silky white or buffy on belly, heavily marked anteriorly with round spots, more 
or less concealed, or not, according to age and season (?); wing-coverts, inter- 
scapulars, tertiaries, rump, and posterior parts, slaty gray or fuscous with an oli- 
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