ANAS.] AVES NATATORES. 235 



DIMENS. Entire length sixteen inches six lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) Crown, occiput, and a list down the back part of 

 the neck, dark umber-brown ; throat black ; over each eye a band of pure 

 white, prolonged down the sides of the neck; cheeks, and upper part of 

 the neck, chestnut-brown, with fine longitudinal streaks of white ; lower 

 part of the neck, and breast, pale yellowish brown, beautifully marked 

 with crescent-shaped black bars : back grayish black, the feathers edged 

 with ash-colour and yellowish brown ; scapulars long and narrow, black, 

 with a broad central white streak; wing-coverts bluish ash: speculum 

 grayish green, bordered above and below by a white bar : belly white ; 

 flanks marked with transverse undulating black lines : vent, upper and 

 under tail-coverts, yellowish white, spotted with black : tail dusky gray, 

 the edges of the feathers lighter: irides light hazel: bill and legs blackish 

 gray. (Female.) Smaller : throat white : head, neck, and upper parts of 

 the body, brown, approaching to dusky, the feathers with pale whitish 

 edges : the streak behind the eye very faint and ill-defined : lower part 

 of the breast, and belly, white ; flanks and abdomen spotted with brown : 

 wing-coverts dark ash-gray; speculum dull, the green tinge almost 

 wanting. The young males resemble the females : as they advance to 

 maturity, the plumage assumes a mixed character. (Egg.) Buff-colour : 

 long. diam. one inch nine lines ; trans, diam. one inch three lines. 



Met with in small numbers principally during the winter arid spring 

 months, and probably remains to breed in some parts of the country, but 

 this last point does not appear to have been fully ascertained. Frequents 

 marshes and the reedy banks of rivers. Nest placed on the ground in 

 situations of the above nature. Eggs ten or twelve. Food, slugs, insects, 

 seeds, and aquatic plants. 



244. A. Crecca, Linn. (Teal.) Crown, cheeks, and 

 neck, ferruginous brown; from the eyes to the nape a 

 broad longitudinal band of green: speculum, half green 

 and half black. 



A. Crecca, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 846. Teal, Mont. Orn. 

 Diet. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. n. p. 374. Common Teal, Selb. Illust. 

 vol. n. p. 315. pi. 54. (Trachea,) Linn. Trans, vol. iv. pi. 13. f. 1. 



DIMENS. Entire length fourteen inches six lines : length of the bill 

 (from the forehead) one inch five lines, (from the gape) one inch eight 

 lines; of the tarsus one inch two lines; of the tail three inches two lines; 

 from the carpus to the end of the wing seven inches five lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Male) Crown of the head, cheeks, front and sides of the 

 neck, ferruginous brown ; on the sides of the head, inclosing the eye, a 

 large patch of deep green, passing off backwards to the nape in the form 

 of a broad band ; sides of the lower part of the neck, back, scapulars, and 

 flanks, beautifully marked with transverse undulating lines of black and 

 white ; some of the longer scapulars cream-yellow, with a portion of their 

 outer webs velvet-black : lower part of the neck in front, and breast, red- 

 dish white, with round black spots: wing-coverts brown, tinged with 

 gray; speculum deep green in the middle, velvet-black at the sides, 

 bordered above by a broad white bar : belly and abdomen white : under 

 tail-coverts blackish brown, bordered at the sides with yellowish white : 

 tail cuneiform, brown, the feathers edged with white : bill dusky gray : 

 irides light hazel : legs brown, with a tinge of ash-gray. (Female.) Ex- 

 tremely similar to that of the last species, but may always be distin- 

 guished by the speculum, which is of the same dark black and green 



