BRITISH BIRDS. 313 



THE TEAL. 



Crccca, Linn. Canard sarccllc d'liiver, 

 Temm.) 



THIS beautiful little Duck seldom exceeds eleven 

 ounces in weight, or measures more, stretched 

 out, than fourteen inches and a half in length, and 

 twenty-three and a half in breadth. The bill is of 

 a dark lead colour, tipped with black : irides pale 

 hazel : a glossy bottle-green patch, edged on the 

 upper side with pale brown, and beneath with 

 cream-coloured white, covers each eye, and ex- 

 tends to the nape of the neck : the rest of the 

 head,* and the upper part of the neck, are of a 

 deep reddish chesnut, darkest on the forehead, 

 and freckled on the chin and about the eyes with 

 cream-coloured spots : the hinder part of the neck, 



* In some of this species the feathers on the head are lengthened 

 out into a crest : the upper part of which is pale brown, the under 

 deep purple. 



VOL. II. 2 R 



