THE CINNAMON TEAL. 
OF more than sixty species of the Anatide (Ducks, Geese and Swans) 
found in North America, one only is peculiar to the western United States, 
viz., the Cinnamon Teal. It is a matter of satisfaction, therefore, that our 
western champion is such a handsome fellow. Surely no more alluring 
spectacle could be afforded the sportsman or nature-lover, than that of a flock 
of these brilliant chestnut-colored ducks when they rise suddenly from a way- 
side pond at break of day. It is as tho fragments of the rich red earth, from 
which we are all made, had been startled by the impact of the sun’s rays upon 
the water, and were fleeing toward heaven—earth, air, fire, and water, all in 
one burst of momentary splendor. 
It is only idle folk, however, who can afford finery, and since it is the 
drake who has nothing to do, he wears all the fine clothes. The female, save 
for her blue-gray wing-patches, is the plainest-looking body imaginable, and 
she so closely resembles the female of Q. discors that we seriously wonder if 
their own mates can always distinguish them. I have seen Blue-wings and 
Cinnamons associating together during the mating season, and the males 
appeared to regard each other with jealousy, as tho they really feared con- 
fusion of brides. 
A favorite play on the part of these Teal at mating time is leap-frog. A 
bird will vault into the air and pass over another’s head and down again with 
a great splash; whereupon the other, as likely as not, will return the compli- 
ment. This passage occurs oftenest between two males, and does not appear to 
have any unfriendly motive. 
So demure and unobtrusive are these birds at nesting time that one is 
likely to underestimate their numbers, unless he sets about it in systematic 
fashion to discover their nests. This may be done best of all by “dragging’’; 
that is, by holding a long rope at each end and sweeping it across a weed-patch 
or a low-lying meadow. The bird flies from under the rope in great terror, but 
is never, in our experience, so frightened that she will not return. In this way 
we located twenty nests along a certain stream in Douglas County, where we 
should not have expected half that number. 
Our purpose was study rather than collection, and the most striking fact 
which our observation disclosed was the number and variety of the birds’ 
enemies at nesting time. Nest after nest was rifled by the prowling vermin 
that housed in the river-bank. Once as I was crossing a luxuriant stretch of 
herbage a foot or more in height, I came upon two broken egg-shells of a 
Cinnamon Teal. A little search disclosed the nest about six feet away and a 
glance revealed the tragedy which had been enacted on the previous night. 
The grass tussock which sheltered the nest gaped open and the dark down was 
scattered. A befouled and broken egg bore sad testimony to the mortal fright 
of the mother bird, altho none of the remaining six were broken. A bit of 
blood on the down showed that it was the bird rather than the eggs the 
