334 NATATORES. 



and forming a white collar on the lower part of the neck and 

 upper part of the breast. The rest of the breast, the sides 

 of the neck, and upper part of the back, finely marked by 

 alternate lines of black and white ; the sides, flanks, and 

 lower part of the back, are of the same colours, but more 

 clouded and mottled. Scapular feathers long and pointed, 

 black in the centres, and distinctly margined with white. 

 Coverts brownish ash, with pale orange tips. Wing spot 

 purple, with greenish reflections. Greater quills dusky, as 

 are also the tail feathers, except the two produced ones. 

 Vent feathers black, belly white, but the breast and fore- 

 part of the belly understood to acquire a tinge of buff or 

 brownish in the breeding season. The female is considerably 

 smaller, and has the colours more inclining to brown. 



The pintail is rather more numerous in winter in the 

 southern parts of the country than in the northern. It is, 

 indeed, so rare, even in the southern districts of Scotland, 

 that it can hardly be considered as belonging to any nor- 

 thern migration ; but it is probable that a few breed every 

 year in the fenny districts of England. They are birds 

 subject to considerable seasonal variations of plumage ; and 

 from the different forms of the tails, they are liable to be 

 mistaken. 



THE COMMON TEAL (Querquedula crecca). 



A figure of the male of this species is given on the opposite 

 plate, one-sixth of the lineal dimensions. The female has 

 the head, neck, and upper parts, brown, the wing spot green, 

 though not so bright as that in the male, and the under part 

 of the body white. 



This species is not uncommon in some of the more retired 

 morasses, or rather the fresh -water lakes in various parts of 

 the country ; but as it is a bird of concealment, and the cry 

 of the male ceases before the female begins to sit, it is rarely 



