CHAPTER IV. 



BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 



(Anas Discors.') 



THE Blue-Winged Teal is among the swiftest and 

 sprightliest of the duck species. They afford delightful 

 sport to the hunter, for they are always with us at a time 

 when early fall commences to tinge forest and field with 

 its autumn colorings. They are gentle, confiding little 

 things, and live, travel and associate together in the great- 

 est harmony. They are great lovers of warm sunshine, 

 and can be seen sitting on the shore, on muskrat houses 

 and small elevations of almost any kind dozing and 

 basking in the sun. Active little fellows when feeding ; 

 they wade through shallow water, skimming bugs and 

 larvae from the surface, or hastily gulp down a ven- 

 turesome insect that indiscreetly gets near them. Un- 

 like the larger variety of ducks, they avoid open water 

 and content themselves huddling together on the soft 



