202 THE SHELDUCK AND SURFACE-FEEDING DUCKS 



TEAL [Nettion crecca crecca (Linnaeus) ; Nettion crecca (Linnaeus). Throstle-teal, 

 jay-teal ; crick (Norfolk). French, sarcelk cThiver ; German, Krick-Ente ; 

 Italian, alsavola]. 



1. Description. The speculum in the teal suffices to distinguish it in both 

 sexes and at all ages, the outer half being velvety black, the inner metallic 

 green, while it is bounded in front by a rust-coloured or occasionally white bar, 

 formed by the tips of the major coverts, and behind by a very narrow white line 

 formed by the tips of the remiges. The sexes differ markedly in coloration, and 

 there is a conspicuous seasonal change of plumage in the male. (PI. 158.) Length 

 14*5 in. [368 mm.]. The male has the head and neck of a rich chesnut relieved 

 by a broad band of dark metallic green extending from the eye backwards on to 

 the neck, and bordered with a narrow edging of buff, which, as a narrow line, runs 

 forward from above the eye downwards to the beak. The upper parts are finely 

 pencilled with grey and white vermiculations, but the wing-coverts are brownish 

 grey, and the hinder scapulars are greatly elongated and coloured, and form a 

 conspicuous longitudinal band, velvet black along its external, and cream coloured 

 along its internal border. The lateral upper tail-coverts and the under tail- 

 coverts are of a velvety black. The fore-breast is white spotted with black, and 

 the flanks are vermiculated like the back, while the breast and abdomen are white, 

 the former with large round black spots. The beak is black, and the legs and 

 toes dusky. In its eclipse dress July to October it differs from the female in 

 having the abdomen heavily marked with oval, dusky spots, and the back dusky 

 with narrow transverse bars of buff. The female differs from the female mallard 

 chiefly in its much smaller size, and in having the base of the hind-neck (" upper- 

 mantle ") barred with broad bars of ochreous buff, in having the loop-like markings 

 of the hinder scapulars and long inner secondaries of a rufous tinge, and the rump 

 transversely barred with grey, while the breast is white save in August, when it 

 becomes heavily spotted. The juvenile dress differs from that of the adult female 

 in having the crown of the head and the back feathers of a uniform dusky hue 

 and a duller speculum. The young 'in down differs from the young mallard in 

 lacking the buff markings on the upper surface, and in having the sides of the head 

 and breast pale brown instead of golden yellow, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. On the whole a widely distributed species in the British 

 Isles, nesting in most of the English counties, especially on the east coast and in 

 the north of England. It is rather sparsely distributed in the southern and 

 midland counties, but is commoner in Wales. In Scotland it is very general on 



