GREEN-WING ED TEAL 199 



be recognized by the appearance of scattered chestnut feathers of the winter plu- 

 mage on the head, with a few green ones behind the eye; new, finely vermiculated, 

 grey feathers may be seen on the lower neck, back, scapulars and sides. In later 

 autumn the black feathers of the crest, the dark throat, and chestnut-and-green 

 head-pattern approach full plumage; vermiculated grey feathers of the back and 

 sides also become more plentiful, and the white bar in front of wing is apparent. 

 By late October the moult is usually complete, except for the black outer scap- 

 ulars, which are not acquired until early spring. 



ADULT FEMALE. Head, without crest, and neck, whitish or buffy, spotted 

 and streaked with dusky, darker on crown; chin and throat, white; dusky stripe 

 through eye; often small pale area at base of bill; bill, blackish, purplish grey 

 at base, spotted with black, same shape as that of male; eye, brown. Body. Back, 

 scapulars and rump, dusky brown, scalloped with buff, giving mottled appearance 

 (back varies, some birds have considerable buffy barring on foreback); chest, 

 whitish or buffy, spotted and mottled with dusky; sides, dusky brown, broadly edged 

 and marked with buffy white; breast, white; belly, faintly mottled with pale grey; 

 feet, pale greyish flesh to blue grey, webs, dusky. Tail, slaty brown, narrowly 

 margined with white; upper coverts, dusky, edged with buff and with V-shaped 

 buffy markings; under coverts, like belly but with dark markings. Wings. Same 

 as those of male but duller; coverts usually with light edgings, greater coverts 

 with less buff than those of male; green area of speculum reduced in size but not 

 in brightness, and tipping on secondaries is white with no buff. 



JUVENILE. In first plumage, up to September, sexes are alike and resemble 

 adult female except in usually having more spotting on belly; upper tail-coverts 

 of both sexes lack buffy marking of those of adult female, though these may be 

 faintly indicated in young male. The change to maturity is rapid and by October 

 the young male shows all indications of adult plumage; vermiculated feathers on 

 sides, and chestnut plumage of head have appeared. Except for wing, practi- 

 cally fully adult by December. Wing of Male. As in adult male, sometimes some- 

 what duller; tertials, olive brown (brownish grey in adult) edged with buff; greater 

 coverts, usually with narrower cinnamon tips. Wing of Female. As in adult female 

 but speculum, generally duller, green area smaller. 



Note. In these juveniles the sex may be determined by the dark streak on 

 the tertial feather bordering the speculum; in the young male, this streak is intense 

 and well defined, in the young female, it is dusky. 



SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION 



MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: General effect: A very small, beautifully marked, 

 greyish duck with crested red head and green face-patch. Chief distinguishing 

 features (a) hind toe without lobe, (b) extremely small size, (c) vertical white 

 bar on side of body in front of wing. 



This duck could be confused only with the male European Teal, which, how- 

 ever, lacks the vertical white bar and has instead a horizontal white bar along 

 line of shoulder above folded wing. The buffy-white line bordering the green face- 

 patch tends to be less white than similar line in the male European Teal. 



AUTUMN AND JUVENILE PLUMAGE: See "Descriptions." 



FEMALE. General effect: A very diminutive, mottled-brown duck, with white 

 breast. Chief features (a) hind toe without lobe, (b) extremely small size (with 

 the European Teal, the smallest of our ducks), (c) speculum, black outwardly and 

 green inwardly, bordered in front with pale brown and behind with white. 



