THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 

 ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. xxxvi. October, 1919. No. 4. 



NOTES ON A NEW SUBSPECIES OF BLUE-WINGED 



TEAL. 



BY FRED II. KEXNARD. 



Plate XVII. 



On February 2, 1916, I had the good luck to be one of the guests 

 of Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny on his extremely interesting family estate 

 at Avery Island, Louisiana. We had been watching the hundreds 

 of wild ducks of several species that were swimming or flying about 

 one of the ponds, when Mr. Mcllhenny pointed out what he called 

 a "Southern Teal," which, he said, was the type of Blue-winged 

 Teal that breeds in Louisiana. Now as I had never even heard 

 of a "Southern Teal" and, until then, had never realized that any 

 kind of Teal bred in Louisiana, I was, of course, very much sur- 

 prised and interested. 



The bird was paddling about at a distance of perhaps 150 to 200 

 feet, and could be told at a glance from its fellows. It was, appar- 

 ently, an adult male Blue-winged Teal, in nuptial plumage, but 

 with the crescent-shaped white spot in front of the eye continued 

 over the eye as a thin white line down to the nape, where it con- 

 verged with the line from the opposite side, in a conspicuous white 

 patch. 



We saw a number of these birds while staying at Mr. Mcllhenny's 

 and later heard of them at Grand Chenier in Cameron Parish, from 



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