QCERQUEDULA. 449 



generally seen in flocks, which are sometimes very large, and 

 occasionally composed of male birds only. They keep in the day 

 chiefly to large open pieces of water, especially those in which 

 water-plants rise a few inches above the surface, not so much 

 amongst the rushes or in the shallows at the side as some ducks 

 do, and they feed, mainly at night, on vegetable food chiefly, but 

 also on mollusca and insects. They have a peculiar appearance 

 when swimming, with their long necks arched and their tails 

 raised ; their flight, which is very swift, is equally characteristic. 

 As a rule they are silent birds, but when alarmed utter a peculiar 

 soft quack. Pintails are excellent eating, and appear in India 

 never to be coarse or fishy, as most other species are at times ; 

 have even found Mallards uneatable, though shot on a " bund 

 far from the sea in December. 



Genus dUERdUEDULA, Stephens, 1824. 



The members of this genus, though often regarded as congeneric 

 with the Common Teal, differ considerably from that species in 

 structure, plumage, and habits. The bill is broader, and instead 

 of being the same width throughout, is wider towards the end, 

 the nail is broader and larger. The labyrinth or bony enlarge- 

 ment of the lower portion of the trachea in the drake is 

 differently shaped, being swollen on both sides and downward, 

 whilst in the genera Anas, Nettium, and several others the 

 inflation is on one side and upward. The flight is different, and 

 all members of the present genus may be recognized by their blue 

 or bluish-grey wing-coverts. 



Of the five species referred to this generic group, four are 

 American and mainly South American, the fifth is one of our 

 migratory ducks. 



1601. Querquedula circia. The Garganey or Blue-winged Teal. 



Anas querquedula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 203 (1766) ; Blyth, Ibis. 

 1859, p. 464 ; Tickell, J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 416. 



Anas circia, Linn. t. c. p. 204 (1766) ; Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 166 ; 

 Legge, Birds Ceyl p. 1080 ; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 593. 



Querquedula circia, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2. p. 143, 

 pi. 51 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 305; Irby, Ibis, 1861, p. 250 ; Jerdon, B. I. iii, 

 p. 807 ; Hume, S. F. i, p. 262; Adam, ibid. p. 402; Le Messurier, 

 S. F. iii, p. 382 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 30 ; v, p. 234 ; Hume fy Dav. 

 8. F. vi, p. 489 ; Sutler. S. F. vii, p. 188 '; Ball, ibid. p. 232 ; Cripps, 

 ibid. p. 312 ; Hume, ibid. p. 494 ; id. Cat. no. 965 ; Scully, S. F. 

 viii, p. 363 ; Hume fy Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 215, pi. ; Vidal, S. F. 

 ix, p. 93 ; Sutler, ibid. p. 438 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 100 ; Reid, 

 S. F. x, p. 83; Hume, ibid. p. 418; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 286; 

 Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 410; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 346; Gates in 

 Hume's N. fy JE. 2nd ed. iii, p. 291 ; Salvador i, Cat. B. M. xxvii, 

 p. 293. 



Chaitwa, Khira, Patari, II. ; Ghang-roib, Giria, Beng. 



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