DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 53 



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 buff y 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. Length : 



15.50-17.00, wing 7.20-7.25, bill 1.65- 



1.85. 



Remarks. The female cyanoptera 

 differs from the female discors in Fl *' C9 ' Cinnamon Teal, 



darker coloration, with the breast browner, and more spotted. 



Distribution. From southern Canada and the western United States to 

 Chili and Falkland Islands ; east irregularly into the Mississippi Valley. 



Nest. On the ground. Eggs : 8 to 12, creamy white. 



Over most of the United States west of the hundredth meridian 

 the cinnamon teal is one of the commonest ducks, breeding in abun- 

 dance throughout the Great Basin country, and to some extent over 

 the greater part of its United States range. Its favorite summer 

 home is in the shallow tule-bordered lakes or tule marshes of the 

 arid region, where, even in the breeding season, it is found in little 

 companies feeding along shore or out in the open patches of water. 

 The nest is usually in a dry marsh or on a grassy bank not far from 

 the water, well lined with dusky down from the duck's breast. The 

 young are protected in the tule cover until old enough to fly, but 

 they have many enemies. The prowling coyote dines with equal 

 relish on a nest full of eggs or an unwary duck, and there are hawks 

 by day and owls by night. 



The teals could hold their own against these old-time enemies, 

 however, but a new danger has come to them in the form of the 

 unrestrained market hunter. He goes to the breeding ground just 

 before the young can fly and while the old ducks are moulting and 

 equally helpless, and day after day loads his wagon with them for 

 the train. This wholesale slaughter has gone on until some of the 

 breeding grounds have been woefully thinned not only of teal, but 

 of other ducks. Without speedy and strenuous efforts to procure 

 and enforce protective laws, many species of ducks that breed prin- 

 cipally within our limits will soon be exterminated. 



VEBNON BAILEY. 



