QUEEQUEDULA BRASILIENSIS. 



133 



strictly migratory, and in the month of October appears in small flocks 

 in the marshes along the river ; but in the interior of the country it is 

 seldom met with. They are extremely active birds, constantly flying 

 about from place to place both by day and night ; and in the love- 

 season, when they alight in a pool of water, the males immediately 

 engage in a spirited combat. While flying they utter a peculiar jarring 

 sound, and occasionally a quacking note, rapidly repeated and sounding 

 like a strange laugh ; but on the water, especially in the evening, the 

 male emits a long inflected note, plaintive and exquisitely pure in 

 sound a more melodious note it would be difficult to find even among 

 the songsters. 



349. QUERQUEDULA BRASILIENSIS (Om.). 

 (BRAZILIAN TEAL.) 



Anas brasiliensis, Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 517 (Parana, Tucuman). 

 Querquedula brasiliensis, Scl et Salv. Nomencl. p. 129 ; iid. P. Z. S. 1869, 

 p. 635 (Buenos Ayres), et 1876, p. 390 ; Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 192, et 1878, 

 p. 64 (Buenos Ayres) ; Barrows, Auk, 1884, p. 273 (Entrerios) ; Burm. P. Z. S. 

 1872, p. 368. 



Description. Above brown ; head more rufous ; lower back, tail, and lesser 

 wing-coverts black ; wings brownish black ; outer webs of the inner primaries 

 and the secondaries shining bronzy green ; broad tips of the outer secondaries 

 white, divided from the green colour by a black band : beneath paler, washed on 

 the breast with rusty red ; throat whitish ; belly slightly banded with brown ; 

 bill blackish ; feet red : whole length 15-5 inches, wing 7'0, tail 3*3. 



Hab. South America. 



This richly coloured Teal, which is widely extended in South America 

 from Guiana down to the Straits of Magellan, is usually met with in 

 pairs near Buenos Ayres, although as many as five or six are sometimes 

 seen together. In habits it is a tree- duck, preferring water-courses in 

 the neighbourhood of woods, and is frequently seen perched on hori- 

 zontal branches. The flight is slow and with the wings very much 

 depressed, as in a duck about to alight on the water; and the beautiful 

 blue, green, and white speculum is thus rendered very conspicuous. 

 The note of the male in the love-season is a long plaintive whistle, 

 singularly pure and sweet in sound, and heard usually in the evening. 



It is a rather curious coincidence that the vernacular name of this 

 Teal in La Plata should be Pato Portugues, which means, as things are 

 understood in that region, Brazilian Duck. 



