THE COMMON TEAL. 285 



Genus QUERQUEDULA, Steph. 



646. QUERQUEDULA CRECCA. 

 THE COMMON TEAL. 



Anas crecca, Linn. tiyxt. Nat. i. p. 204; Bl. B. Burm. p. 166; Leyye, Birds Ceylon, 

 p. 1083. Querquedula crecca, Jen!. B. Ind. ii. p. 806; Dresser, Birds Eur. 

 vi. p. 507, pi. ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 193 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 502 ; 

 Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 700; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 489 ; Hume, S. F. viii. 

 p. 115 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 303 ; Hume $ Marsh. Game. Birds, iii. p. 205 ; Gates, 

 S. F. x. p. 245. 



Description. Male. Forehead, crown, a band continued down the hind 

 neck, the space between the bill and the eye, cheeks, sides and front of 

 neck chestnut ; chin black ; a broad band from the eye running down the 

 sides of the nape and upper neck glossy green, bounded by a narrow white 

 line below ; a patch of blue at the back of the neck ; upper plumage nar- 

 rowly cross-barred with black and white ; upper tail-coverts blackish, each 

 feather edged with fulvous ; some of the outer scapulars creamy white, 

 diagonally edged with black ; wing-coverts and quills greyish brown, the 

 tips of the outer median coverts creamy white forming a large patch ; 

 speculum brilliant green in the middle, black on both sides; fore neck 

 below the chestnut barred with black and white like the back ; breast creamy 

 white spotted with black, most of the spots partially concealed ; abdomen 

 white ; sides of the body beautifully barred with black and white ; under 

 tail-coverts black in the centre, buff at the sides. 



The female is a dull bird, the whole upper plumage and breast being 

 brown, each feather margined with fulvous or yellowish white ; she retains 

 the speculum of the male in a reduced form, and may always be recog- 

 nized by it ; the green, black, and white forming the speculum are less 

 in extent but as deeply coloured as in the male. 



Iris brown ; bill dark brown ; legs and feet greyish brown ; claws dark 

 horn-colour. In the young the posterior half of the margins of the upper 

 mandible is orange spotted with black, and the lower mandible is dusky 

 orange-grey. 



Length 14 inches, tail 3, wing 7*5, tarsus 1*2, bill from gape 1*7. The 

 female is a trifle smaller than the male. 



The Common Teal is a tolerably numerous winter visitor to Arrakau and 

 Pegu, and in some parts of the latter is very abundant. Mr. Davison did 

 not meet with it in Tenasserim, except in the plains between the Sittang 

 and the Salween rivers. 



It occurs, according to season, in nearly every part of Asia, Europe, North 

 Africa, and on the eastern shores of North America. The most easterly 



