GREEN- WINGED TEAL 201 



ter haunts in the lower Mississippi Valley in February, proceeding slowly 

 northward, and the first arrivals appear in its summer home in northern 

 Alaska early in May. . . . Although the breeding range of the Green- 

 winged Teal extends much farther north than that of the Blue-winged 

 Teal, its center of abundance in the nesting season is in the vast prairie 

 regions of the Northern States and western Canada. . . . The fall migra- 

 tion begins with the first cold weather, often quite early in the season, 

 but the birds linger on the way wherever they can find attractive feed- 

 ing grounds in the wild rice patches or on cultivated lands. . . . The 

 first snowstorms bring along the main late flight and the northern winter 

 has set in before the last of the migrants are driven south by the ice 

 and snow, together with the northern Mallards, the last of the Surface- 

 feeding Ducks. . . . This hardy little duck winters as far north as British 

 Columbia and Montana in the west, in the central States of the prairie 

 region, in southern New England and even in Nova Scotia, when it can 

 find open water in the spring holes and the streams near the coast. But 

 its main winter home is in the great wild-fowl resorts of the Southern 

 States and Mexico, where it can find safe retreats and abundant feeding 

 grounds. It prefers the rice fields of the interior and the inland sloughs 

 and ponds, but it also visits the coastal estuaries and the mouths of 

 streams occasionally" (Bent, 1923). 



The same writer says: "Nearly every writer on American ornithology 

 has commented on the swiftness of flight of the Green-winged Teal, in 

 which it certainly excels. In proportion to its size, and perhaps actually, 

 it is the swiftest of the ducks, though its diminutive size might lead to an 

 overestimate of its speed. It has been credited with a speed of 160 miles 

 an hour, but this is undoubtedly an exaggeration." Bowles (1909) says: 

 "Moving at a rate of certainly not less than 100 miles an hour, the evo- 

 lutions of a large flock of these birds are truly startling. They fly in such 

 close order that one would think their wings must interfere, even on a 

 straight course; yet of a sudden the whole flock will turn at a right 

 angle, or w r heel and tw r ist as if it were one bird. The looker-on can only 

 wonder what the signal may be which is given and obeyed to such per- 

 fection, for the least hesitation or mistake on the part of a single bird 

 would result in death or a broken wing to a score." (In the section deal- 

 ing with the Speed of Flight will be found some interesting facts re- 

 garding the flight speed of this and other species, w r hich are the result of 

 recent studies.) 



The Green-wing is a duck of the inland sloughs, marshes, and streams 

 where it feeds by reaching down to sift its food from the muddy bottom 

 or to pluck the weeds that flourish in these shallow places. It feeds by 



tipping and may often be seen kicking its 

 feet in the air to help maintain its balance. 

 It is active on land, runs quickly, and often 

 wanders far from water in search of berries, 

 acorns, chestnuts, and the like. About nine- 

 tenths of the food of this duck is vegetable. 

 Its average diet, as shown by the examination 

 of the stomach contents of 653 specimens. 



