CLASSIFIED NOTES 541 



AMERICAN BLUEWINGED-TEAL [(>- rqi^dida discors (Linnaeus); Anas dlscors 

 Linnieus]. 



1. Description. The male of the American bluewinged-teal may be at once distinguished 

 by the broad crescent-shaped white band between the eyes and the bill, and the greyish blue 

 wing-coverts. The sexes differ in coloration. Length 15 in. [380 mm.]. In the adult male 

 the forehead and top of the head are of a deep glossy black ; sides of the head, face, and neck 

 dark lead-colour, relieved by the broad band of white just referred to ; mantle and shorter 

 scapular feathers dark brown, with V-shaped markings of pinkish buff; lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts dark brown, fringed with dark lead-colour; under surface of body pinkish red, 

 thickly spotted on the chest and Hanks with black, and evenly barred with black over the 

 remainder of the under surface; under tail-coverts and tail black; a large pure white patch 

 on each side of the tail ; long scapulars black, mesially streaked with pinkish buff; lesser wing- 

 coverts and outer webs of some of the scapulars slate-blue ; greater coverts white, forming the 

 tipper border of the speculum ; iris brown ; bill black ; feet yellowish. Adult female upper 

 parts blackish brown, fringed with yellowish white ; sides of the face and neck white, streaked 

 with black ; throat white ; under parts whitish, each feather with a black-brown spot in the 

 middle ; wing-coverts slate-blue, whereby the female of this species is at once distinguished. 

 | \v. i'. p. and r. w.] 



2. Distribution. Also breeds in North America, both in Canada and the United States, 

 north to Labrador and the Saskatchewan, but rarely north of lat. 60,and chiefly east of the Rockies 

 and south to Florida and Mazatlan, as well as abundantly in the Mississippi valley. It winters 

 in the southern United States and south to the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and 

 South America to Ecuador. As a casual it has occurred in the Bermudas, Denmark (once), and 

 two or three times in the British Isles (Dumfries, Cheshire, and Cork). [F. c. K. J.] 



AMERICAN- WIGEON [ Mareca americdtia (Gmelin) ; Anas americdna Gmelin. Baldpate]. 



1. Description. Differs from the common-wigeon chiefly in that the general coloration 

 of the head and neck is of a pale buff instead of chesnut. The metallic green spots which 

 bespangle the neck of the comtuon-wigeon are also present in the American species. The 

 flanks in the American species also differ from those of this region in the common-wigeon in 

 being of a vinous chesnut, vermiculated with black. The sexes differ in coloration. Length 

 20 in. [507 mm.]. In the male the crown is whitish instead of buff, as in the common-wigeon ; 

 the upper parts are of a reddish grey, with black vermiculations, while the fore-breast and flanks 

 are of a vinous chesnut, the latter region finely vermiculated with black ; the lower breast and 

 abdomen are white ; under tail-coverts black, glossed with green ; the secondaries, which form 

 the speculum, are black glossed with metallic green; the major coverts white, tipped with 

 black, forming the superior border of the speculum ; while the long inner secondaries are glossy 

 greenish black, and have a silvery white outer margin. The female differs from that of the 

 female of the common-wigeon in having the head lighter and more coarsely marked, and the 

 speculum much more intensely coloured, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. This North American species breeds from Kotzebue Sound in Alaska, 

 and thence along the Arctic coasts east to Hudson's Bay (but more commonly south of lat. 68), 

 south to the northern States of the Union. It winters south from the southern United States 

 to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the West Indies, and Hawaii. It is said to have been found 

 breeding in Iceland, and has occurred as a casual in France (once), and at least three times in 

 Great Britain (London and Leeds markets and outer Hebrides), as well as on the Azores and 

 once on Bering Island. [F. c. R. J.] 



VOL. IV. 3Z 



