284 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



velvety-black base ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; 

 bill nearly black ; feet, toes, and membrane brownish-grey ; iris 

 hazel. Total length, 14 inches; culmen, 1*5 ; wing, 7 'o; tail, 

 27 ; tarsus, n. 



Adult Female. Different from the male. Dark brown above, 

 with crescentic or horse-shoe markings of tawny-buff on the 

 mantle and back ; the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 dusky and more blackish-brown, mottled with whitish edgings 

 and centres to the feathers ; wing as in the male, with an 

 equally distinct speculum, showing green in certain lights and 

 purplish-blue in others ; the black border to the inner margin 

 of the speculum dusky-black, not velvety-black ; crown of head 

 rufous-brown with dusky streaks ; sides of face and throat 

 ashy-whitish, minutely spotted with dusky ; lores, a spot under 

 the eye, and upper throat white; breast white, with a slight 

 reddish tinge on the fore-neck, this and the breast and flanks 

 mottled, and the under tail-coverts streaked with dark brown 

 centres to the feathers. Total length, 15-5 inches: culmen, 

 1-25; wing, 67; tail, 2-5; tarsus, ri. 



Mr. De Winton writes to me concerning the post-nuptial 

 plumage of the Teal : " In the summer dress it is very diffi- 

 cult to tell the males from the females, and they resemble each 

 other more than any Duck I know. After a close inspection, 

 the chief difference I can find is that the males have a more 

 lead-coloured head, with no light stripe over the eye, but they 

 show a little buff at the sides of the base of the tail. The 

 female has a pale stripe over the eye, though this is never so 

 distinct as in the hen Garganey." 



Young. At first both sexes resemble the old female in 

 plumage, but are more distinctly mottled with dark centres 

 to the feathers of the under surface, while the wing-coverts 

 have pale margins. 



Hybrids. The Teal has been known to cross with other 

 Ducks, such as the Mallard and Pin-tail, while the so-called 

 Bimaculated Duck (A. bimaculata) is now admitted to be a 

 hybrid between a Teal and a Mallard. 



Range in Great Britain. The Teal nests in most parts of the 

 British Islands, but more plentifully in the north. Mr. Ussher 

 says that it is reported to breed in every county in Ireland 



