98 The Water-fowl Family 



ties of teal are abundant, occurring together for a 

 short time in the spring of the year. In April 

 the green- and blue-winged were about equal in 

 number with an occasional cinnamon teal. Three 

 weeks later the green-winged teal had mostly gone, 

 but we saw the blue-winged with the cinnamon. 



On the Atlantic Coast this bird occasionally 

 straggles offshore and is killed with the sea 

 ducks. An instance of this came to my notice 

 last winter, when a full-plumaged male was killed 

 by Charles Langfare, off Branford, Connecticut, 

 in the Sound; it came to broadbill decoys. 



The favorite haunts of the green-winged teal 

 in the United States are the marshes and shallow 

 lakes of the Western states. It is common in the 

 Rocky Mountain states and in California, arriv- 

 ing early in September and remaining until the 

 first cold weather, when it is one of the first of 

 our ducks to leave for warmer climates. They 

 follow the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf states 

 and are found along the Gulf of Mexico as far 

 south as the shores of Central America, and at 

 tinies are numerous in the West Indies. Popular 

 with sportsmen and killed relentlessly by market 

 gunners, this bird is exposed everywhere within 

 its available range to persecution; yet it is a 

 pleasure to feel there are some localities where 

 the green-winged teal still exists in large numbers, 

 gentle and undisturbed. 



