V 



410 ANATIN.E. 



with white ; wing-coverts brown, tinged with grey ; the speculum, 

 formed by the tips of the secondary-coverts, deep green in the 

 middle, velvet-black at the sides, bordered above by a broad 

 yellowish- white bar ; chin black ; lower part of the neck in 

 front and breast reddish or creamy- white, with round black 

 spots ; abdomen white ; lower tail-coverts blackish-brown, 

 bordered at the sides with yellowish-white. 



The female has the head, neck, and all the upper parts, dusky- 

 brown, the feathers more or less broadly edged with pale reddish- 

 brown ; the throat, cheeks, and a band behind the eyes, yellowish- 

 white, spotted with black ; the speculum as in the male, and the 

 under parts yellowish- white. 



The Common Teal is most abundant throughout the entire 

 region ; it is one of the earliest ducks to arrive. It is excellent 

 eating. 



Lin. 



965. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 807 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 30 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 

 IX, p. 438 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 301 ; 

 Game Birds of India, Vol. Ill, p. 215 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, 

 Central India; Ibis, 1885, p. 137. 



THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



c?. Length, 15'9 to 16'25 ; expanse, 25*0 to 27*25 ; wing, 7'4 

 to 81 ; tail, 3'3 to 3'8 ; tarsus, I/O to T3 ; bill from gape, 175 to 

 1-92; weight, -}- to 1 Ib. 



?. Length, 14'8 to 15'5 ; expanse, 23'0 to 25'5 ; wing, 7'0 to 

 7*5 ; tail from vent, 2'9 to 3'5 ; tarsus, TO to 115 ; bill from gape, 

 17 to 1-85 ; weight, A to -j-J- Ibs. ^ 



Bill blackish-brown ; irides hazel ; legs and feet dusky. 



Male, crown, occiput, and a line down the back of the 

 neck, umber-brown ; over each eye a band of pure white, 

 prolonged down the sides of the neck ; cheeks and upper part 

 of the neck chesnut-brown, with fine longitudinal streaks of 

 white ; back brown, glossed with green, the feathers edged 

 with ashy and yellowish-brown ; scapulars long and acuminate, 

 black, with a broad central white streak ; wing-coverts bluish- 

 ash ; speculum greyish-green, bordered above and below by 

 a white bar ; tail dusky-grey, the feathers edged lighter ; upper 

 tail-coverts yellowish-white, spotted with black ; chin black ; 

 lower part of the neck and breast pale fulvous, with crescent- 

 shaped black bars ; abdomen white ; the flanks with transverse 

 wavy lines of black ; vent and under tail-coverts yellowish-white, 

 spotted with black. 



The female has the head, neck, and upper parts, dusky -brown, 

 the feathers with whitish edges ; the eye-streak faint ; Aving- 

 coverts dark ashy-grey ; speculum dull, the greenish tinge almost 

 wanting ; chin and throat white ; the lower part of the breast 



