194 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Querquedula discors (Linnaeus) 

 Blue-winged Teal 



Plate 14 



Anas discors Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 12. 1766. 1:205 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 339, fig. 246 

 A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 140 



querque'dula, Lat., a kind of small duck; dis'cors, Lat., discordant 



Description. Adult male: Head dark leaden gray with purplish 

 reflections changing to blackish on the crown, chin, and base of bill ; a large 

 crescentric patch of white in front of eye; under parts cinnamon, rufous 

 or purplish gray, thickly spotted with black and barred on the flanks; 

 upper parts varied with dusky and yellowish brown, and turning to greenish 

 brown on rump; a white spot on each side of base of tail; crissiun black; 

 bill dusky; feet dull yellow; iris brown; wing coverts grayish blue, the longer 

 ones tipped with white; mirror green. Female and young: Wings similar 

 to the males but less white on the forward border of the mirror, and colors 

 less bright; head and neck grayish buff with streaks and spots of dusky 

 buff, except on throat ; crown quite dusky ; belly whitish gray with obscure 

 markings. Drakes in eclipse plumage: Resemble the ducks. 



Length 14. 5-16. 5 inches; extent 26-31; wing 7-7.5; tail 3.5; bill 1.5; 

 tarsus 1.2. 



Field marks. The females and young of this species are frequently 

 confused with Shoveler ducks when seen at a distance, but the peculiar bill 

 of the latter species will serve to distinguish it from the teal. The blue 

 wing coverts are characteristic of both species. 



The Blue-winged teal is one of our commonest river ducks, being fairly 

 well distributed throughout the State in all extensive marsh lands, but is 

 more common in the lake region of western New York than on Long Island 

 and is decidedly more abundant in the fall than in the spring in all parts of 

 the State. It breeds rarely on Long Island, or did in former years, but 

 more commonly in the marshes of Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne and Oswego 

 counties as well as many other localities in the region of the lakes. 



The Blue-winged teal, or Summer teal, as it is sometimes called, makes 

 its earliest appearance with us from the 5th to the loth of April and passes 

 on to the north, or begins to breed, about the loth of May. Like many 



