GAME BIRDS AND LARGER NON-GAME BIRDS 151 



ward through the Northwest Territories; it is also com- 

 mon in the Fraser Valley and the interior of British Colum- 

 bia. 



Teal. — The green-winged teal is common from Manitoba 

 to British Columbia, and breeds throughout that region 

 and northward to the Arctic. The blue- winged teal breeds 

 sparingly in eastern Canada; its chief breeding-range is 

 from Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains and northward. 

 It is a summer resident in the lower Fraser Valley, though 

 uncommon in the rest of British Columbia. The teal are 

 the smallest of our ducks, and, being swift fliers, are good 

 sporting ducks. 



Shoveller or Spoonbill. — This handsome bird is distin- 

 guished by its peculiar spoonlike bill, which enables it to 

 sift the mud of the ponds which it frequents. As a migrant 

 it is fairly common in Ontario and Quebec, but rarer in the 

 Maritime Provinces. It is one of the commonest ducks of 

 the prairies as far as the Rocky Mountains, where it finds the 

 most suitable feeding-grounds. It is a common summer 

 resident in British Columbia. 



Pintail. — Few of our native ducks excel this species m 

 beauty of colouration, and certainly not in grace of out- 

 line. While it breeds in some of the Ontario marshes and 

 eastward to Nova Scotia in small numbers, the chief breed- 

 ing-places of the pintail are in the Northwest Territories 

 northward to the Arctic coast. 



Wood Duck. — Of all our wild ducks this species is by far 

 the most gorgeous in its colouring; in fact, it is not excelled 

 in beauty of colouration by any other wild duck in the 

 world. Formerly it was abundant throughout the wooded 

 regions of Canada, but so reduced have its numbers become 

 that it has now been considered necessary to protect it by a 

 permanent close season. It is still found in small numbers 

 from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, but it is rare in the 

 region west of Manitoba to the Coast Mountains of British 



