286 ANATIM. 



of tail-feathers ash grey; legs, toes, and membranes, 

 brownish-grey. 



The whole length is fourteen inches and a half. From 

 the carpal joint to the end of the wing seven inches and a 

 quarter ; the first and second quill-feathers nearly equal ; 

 and the flight of the species very rapid. 



Of male Teal observed constantly in the summer of 

 1 844, some had lost the sexual distinctions of the plumage 

 by the 27th of July, and all were changed by the 4th of 

 August; remaining like the females, till they acquired 

 new feathers at the autumn moult. The female has the 

 whole of the head speckled with dark brown, on a ground 

 colour of light brown ; upper part of back and scapulars 

 dark brown, each feather with two narrow transverse bars 

 of buify-brown ; wing like the male, but the speculum 

 has more velvet black, less green, and no purple colour ; 

 chin pale brown ; lower part of neck on the front and sides 

 varied with two shades of brown, in crescentic marks ; 

 breast white ; sides, flanks, belly, and under tail-coverts, 

 dull white, spotted with dark brown. 



The trachea of the male Teal is about five inches in 

 length, the tube rather narrower near the middle than at 

 any other part ; the bony enlargement of the size and form 

 represented in the figure below. 



