NETTION. 193 



160. NETTION CRECCA (Linnaeus). 

 EUROPEAN TEAL. 



Anas crecca LINNJEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 126. 



Nettion crecca SALVADOEI, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27, 243; MCGREGOR 



and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 38. 

 Nettium crecca BLANFORD, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 44'3, fig. 114 



(head); SHARPE, Hand-List (1899), 1, 218; GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs 



(1902), 2, 169. 



Calayan (McGregor); Luzon ( Whit ehead ) ; Mindoro (f Platen). Palaearctic 

 Region, wintering in northern Africa, in Arabia, Persia, India, Ceylon, Burmah, 

 China and Japan; accidental in Greenland and eastern United States. 



"Adult male. Head and upper neck chestnut; a glossy green patch on 

 each side of the head from the eyes backward to upper nape; a narrow 

 buffy line from the gape upward along the base of the upper mandible 

 and from thence to the eye, bordering above and below the anterior part 

 of the green patch; chin black; hind neck, back, and scapulars with 

 narrow gray and black wavy lines ; outer scapulars buff, broadly edged with 

 black on the outer web; upper tail-coverts black, edged with buffish 

 brown; on the middle of the neck a collar of whitish and black cross- 

 lines; breast and abdomen white, the former with round subapical black 

 spots; sides and flanks waved with narrow black lines; central under 

 tail-coverts velvet-black, the lateral ones of a buff-color, with a band of 

 black at the base; upper wing-coverts lead-gray, the greater row whitish 

 buff, darker toward the inner ones; wing-speculum on the secondaries 

 velvety black, with a white apical band on the outer half, glossy green 

 on the inner half; first tertial velvet-black on the outer web; primaries 

 and tail-feathers grayish brown, the later with pale edges; under wing- 

 coverts gray, edged with white, the central ones and the axillars wholly 

 white. Bill nearly black ; iris hazel ; legs, toes, and membranes brownish 

 gray. Length, 368; wing, 184; tail, 76; culmen, 40; tarsus, 28. 



"Female. General color of the upper parts dark brown, each feather 

 with reddish brown edges ; upper part of the head darker than the sides, 

 which are whitish, thickly speckled with black; a black line behind the 

 eyes; chin and throat whitish; the feathers of the back and scapulars 

 with two, narrow, transverse, bars of buffy brown; under parts whitish, 

 with a reddish tinge on the breast, each feather, except those of the 

 belly, with obscure dark centers ; wing as in the male but somewhat duller. 



"Young in first plumage closely resembles the female, but the wing- 

 coverts have pale edgings, and the dark centers of the feathers appear 

 also on the belly. 



"Males in molting plumage resemble the adult females. 

 77719 13 



