COMMON TEAL. 54-5 



ANAS CRECCA. 



COMMON TEAL. 



(PLATE 66.) 



Anas querquedula minor, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 430 (1760). 



Anas crecca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 204 (1706) ; et auctorum plurimorum Gmelin, 



Latham, Temminck, (Dresser), (Sounders), &c. 



Querquedula crecca (Linn.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zoo/, xii. pt. ii. p. 146 (1824). 

 Nettion crecca (Linn.), Kuup, Natlirl. Sysf. p. 95 (1829). 



Querquedula subcrecca, I ^ r Leut schl pp. 885, 886 (1831). 

 Querquedula creccoides, I 



There can scarcely be any reasonable doubt that the Teal is more closely 

 allied to the "Wigeon than to the Garganey, whose true affinities are with 

 the Shoveller*. The Teal can only be regarded as a dwarf Wigeon, and 

 is still more closely related to the American race of that species. It is 

 impossible to doubt that natural selection would alter the shape of the bill 

 to suit the nature of the food much easier than sexual selection would 

 produce two similar arraugements of colour in birds belonging to different 

 subgenera. 



The Teal is a local resident throughout the British Islands, and breeds 

 sparingly in suitable localities in almost every part, but is more common 

 in the northern districts than in the southern. In winter its numbers are 

 largely increased by migrants from the north, and at the two seasons of 

 passage many birds pass along our coasts to and from their winter-quarters. 

 Great numbers frequent the coast, but many retire inland to the rivers, 

 lakes, and swamps, migrating southwards on the approach of very severe 

 weather. 



The Teal is an arctic and semi-arctic Duck, confined to the Old World, 

 except that it is an accidental visitor on migration to Greenland and the 



* Not only is the coloration of the wing and scapulars nearly the same in the two latter 

 species, but the relationship is further indicated by the white crescent in front of the eye 

 of the Blue-winged Teal of America (admitted to be a Garganey), a character which 

 reappears in the Australian and New-Zealand Shovellers. The similarity in colour between 

 the eggs of the Garganey and Teal can scarcely be regarded as denoting very close relation- 

 ship, any more than the still greater similarity between the eggs of the Wigeon and 

 the Smew. Nor can the slight difference in the colour of the eggs of the Garganey and 

 Shoveller be regarded as denoting distant relationship any more than the remarkable 

 difference between the eggs of the Goosander, Red-breasted Merganser, and Hooded 

 Merganser, birds which are, unquestionably, very closely allied. 



