458 Kennard, New Subspecies of Blue-winged Teal. [o" t k 



be expected, in view of the mixup of the birds during the winter 

 migration. 



Owing to the fact that the Southern Teal begin nesting before the 

 Blue-winged Teal depart for the north, it is difficult to separate 

 the southern breeding birds, but of twenty-eight typical Southern 

 Teal examined, all taken in the south, eighteen were probably breed- 

 ing birds, while of a series of ten birds that were certainly breed- 

 ing, collected on the breeding grounds in the second week in May, 

 after all the northern birds had departed, all showed the diagnostic 

 markings very distinctly, in spite of the worn state of the plumage. 



Of the one hundred and thirty-eight Teal examined, only three 

 typical Blue-winged Teal were apparently breeding in the south. 

 One was taken at Ingram, Texas, and might have been a wounded 

 bird; and the other two were taken in Arizona, where the two 

 forms seem to meet, as both have been taken there during the 

 breeding season. 



Regarding the plumage of the Blue-winged Teal, Mr. A. C. Bent, 

 who has specialized somewhat on the subject, writes me that " the 

 moult into the eclipse plumage begins in July. The eclipse plum- 

 age is complete in August and often lasts through September." 

 In this plumage, so far as I know, the male Southern Teal is indis- 

 tinguishable from the northern bird, and I have been unable to 

 distinguish any difference between the females of the two forms 

 at any season. This would seem to account for the fact that among 

 all the specimens examined there were no autumn birds with the 

 southern marking. Continuing, Mr. Bent says, "The moult out 

 of the eclipse begins in September, but the progress of this moult 

 is so slow that the full plumage is seldom complete before the middle 

 of winter, and sometimes not until March." As a usual thing, 

 however, the Southern Teal seems to acquire its full plumage in 

 February, when the diagnostic markings are most distinct. 



The typical Blue-winged Teal of the north is shown in Mr. 

 Fuertes' sketch, and of them, perhaps twenty per cent may have 

 the white crescentic patch in front of the eye, elongated a trifle 

 just above the eye, but this must not be confused with the marking 

 of the Southern Teal, in which the white nuchal patch seems 

 diagnostic. 



In the typical Southern Teal, shown by Mr. Fuertes, the cres- 



