GARGANEY 



243 



Garganey. 



Querquedula circia. 



FIG. 82. GARGANEY. - natural size. 



Bill black ; fore- 

 head, crown, nape, 

 and back dark 

 brown ; from the eye 

 a white stripe ex- 

 tending to the back 

 of the neck ; cheeks 

 and neck light 

 brown with short 

 hair-like lines of 

 white ; scapulars 

 black, with central 

 white stripe ; wing- 

 coverts bluish grey ; 

 speculum green be- 

 tween two bars of white ; primaries and tail dull brown ; chin black ; 

 breast pale brown with dark crescentic bands ; belly white ; flanks 

 with transverse black lines ; under tail- coverts black and white ; 

 legs and feet greyish brown. Length, sixteen inches. Female : 

 mottled brown ; stripe over the eye yellowish white ; speculum 

 dull metallic green between two white bars. 



The garganey, or summer teal, or cricket teal, as it is sometimes 

 called, on account of the low, jarring note of the male in the pairing 

 season, differs considerably from its nearest relation, the common 

 teal, both in its larger size and its colouring, which a little 

 resembles that of the shoveler. It is an early spring visitor to the 

 British Islands, rare in England, and still rarer in Scotland and 

 Ireland. It remains to breed in suitable localities in this country, 

 and is perhaps most common in the district of the Broads in 

 Norfolk. It flies swiftly, and utters on the wing a sharp, quacking 

 cry. sometimes repeated twice. Its feeding habits are similar to 

 those of the teal, but it is not esteemed a good bird for the table. 

 The nest is made among the coarse grass and herbage in swampy 

 ground ; eight or nine creamy white eggs are laid sometimes a 

 larger number. . 



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