DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: Family Anatidae [ 147 ] 



George Tonkin, who was familiar with the species in eastern United 

 States, reported a pair seen at Baldock Slough, near Baker, on May 19, 

 1914. Woodcock (1902.) reported it as found near Dayton and Scio; Prill 

 (1895 a) listed it as wintering near Sweet Home, Linn County; and Overton 

 Dowell, Jr., saw five on Mercer Lake, Lane County, June Z9, 1931, and 

 collected specimens to confirm the record, the only western Oregon skins 

 known to us. 



It would be well for sportsmen, particularly in western Oregon, where 

 Cinnamon Teal, both males and females, are killed frequently, to be on 

 the lookout for the beautiful little Blue-winged Teal. We know of no 

 way in which the females of the two species may be distinguished by 

 gunners, as they are inseparable in the field and can only with difficulty 

 be distinguished in the hand; the only differences being comparative ones 

 of shade. The male Blue-winged Teal are well marked, however, and 

 could be readily picked out by any one at all familiar with the other 

 species of teal. The adult males are easily distinguished from the adult 

 Cinnamon Teal males by their much paler coloration the breast in par- 

 ticular being a bright, buffy brown marked with round black polkadots 

 instead of the bright cinnamon red and by the conspicuous white crescent 

 on the side of the head that distinguishes this duck from all others. 



We have no Oregon food notes, but the general feeding habits are 

 similar to those of the Cinnamon Teal. 



Cinnamon Teal: 



Querquedula cyanoptera (Vieillot) 



DESCRIPTION. "Adult male: Head, neck, breast, and sides bright cinnamon brown, 

 fading to dull brown on belly and becoming blackish on chin and crown; back dusky, 

 shoulders spotted and barred with dusky and brown; wing with lesser coverts light 

 blue, middle coverts tipped with white, speculum green, tertials broadly striped with 

 blue, greenish black, and rich buff. Adult female: crown dusky, rest of head and neck 

 finely specked and streaked with dusky on buffy ground; rest of upper parts dusky 

 scalloped with buff; wing with large blue patch; under parts brownish, mottled with 

 dusky. Young: like female, but more streaked below. " (Bailey) Downy young: ' The 

 downy young of the Cinnamon Teal is 'mummy brown' above, darkest on the crown, 

 and the tips of the down are 'buffy citrine,' producing a golden olivaceous appear- 

 ance on the back; the forehead, the sides of the head, including a broad superciliary 

 stripe, and the under parts vary from 'mustard yellow' on the head to 'amber yellow' 

 on the breast and 'napthaline yellow' on the belly; there is a narrow stripe of dark 

 brown on the side of the head; and the color of the back is relieved by a yellowish 

 spot on each side of the rump, scapular region, and edge of the wing." (Bent) Si%e: 

 "Length 15.50-17.00, wing 7.2.0-7.2.5, bill 1.65-1.85." (Bailey) Nest: A shallow 

 depression in the ground, often at considerable distance from the water, lined with 

 grass and vegetable debris and quantities of dark-colored down. Eggs: 6 to 14, 

 usually 10 to 12., pale buff to pure white (Plate 2.4, A). 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds in western North America from western Montana, 

 eastern Wyoming, western Kansas, and central Texas west to southern British 

 Columbia, northwestern Washington, central Oregon, and central California. 



