610 QUERQUEDULA 



along the feathers ; breast sandy brown with crescentic blackish bars ; 

 lower breast and belly whitish, the flanks, vent, and under tail-coverts 

 vermiculated and spotted with dark brown ; on each side of the vent a 

 greyish patch ; bill blackish, at the base below flesh-coloured ; legs 

 brownish plumbeous ; iris brown. Culmen 1-5, wing 7*7, tail 3*1, 

 tarsus I'l inch. Female, general colour brown darker on the head, the 

 feathers on upper parts margined with sandy brown and fulvous white ; 

 wing-coverts dull ashy grey, and the green speculum absent ; streak from 

 the eye, malar region, and throat buffy white ; sides of head and lower 

 neck streaked with brown ; breast rusty brown marked with white ; rest 

 of under parts buffy white, the flanks mottled with brown. After the 

 breeding season the male assumes a dress like that of the female, but 

 retains the green speculum and lavender-blue wing-coverts. 



Hob. Europe generally, from below the Arctic circle to the 

 Mediterranean ; North Africa in winter south to Somaliland ; 

 Asia east to Japan, north to Kamchatka, south in winter to 

 India, Ceylon, Borneo, Java, Celebes, and Ceram. 



Frequents fresh-water, but seldom being found on the sea- 

 coast, and feeds on vegetable substances, worms, insects, and 

 larvae, occasionally on small frogs and fish ; its note is a harsh 

 knack. It breeds in April or May, its nest being a mere 

 depression in the ground in a morass, meadow, or in a reed-bed, 

 and composed of rushes and dried grass mixed with down. Its 

 eggs, 8 to 12 or 13 in number, are rather deeper creamy yellow 

 than those of the Teal and measure about T87 by T35. 



849. BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 

 QUERQUEDULA DISCORS. 



Querquedula discors (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 205 (1766) ; (Wilson), Am. 

 Orn. viii. p. 74, pi. 68, fig. 4 ; (Audub.), B. Am. vi. p. 287, pi. 393 ; 

 Salvador!, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvii. p. 299 ; Eidgway, p. 93 ; Saunders, 

 p. 434 ; (Lilford), vii. p. 100, pi. 40. 



<$ ad. (N. America). May always be distinguished by having the head 

 and neck dull plumbeous, the crown dusky, the sides of the occiput glossed 

 with metallic lavender-purple ; a crescent-shaped patch of white in front 

 of the eye ; wing-coverts rich blue ; speculum green with a white bar 

 above ; under parts pale chestnut spotted with black ; bill black ; legs and 

 feet yellowish ; iris brown. Culmen 1*75, wing 7'2, tail 3'25, tarsus T25 

 inch. The female has the upper parts dusky varied with buffy white, 

 the under parts dull buff, the chin and upper throat uristreaked, the rest 

 of the head and neck streaked with dusky, the speculum dull greyish 

 brown. In the summer the male like all its allies assumes a dress like 

 that of the female, but retains the brighter colours on the wings. 



