170 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



with tendrils and finer vegetation. The eggs are three or 

 four in number, greenish blue, with brownish spots, and 

 nine-tenths by two-thirds of an inch in size. 



The birds breed in the Eastern United States north- 

 ward from New Jersey and spend the winter in the West 

 Indies and Mexico and southward. Migrants pass 

 through from May 5 to 18 and from September 10 to 

 October 10. 



The song is rather harsh, not very melodious and still 

 not unpleasant when heard in the woods. 



Their food consists of fruits and berries, but they also 

 take large numbers of beetles, larvae of insects, wasps, 

 hornets, bumble bees and other large-winged insects. 



Teal, Blue-winged. Length, sixteen inches; extent, 

 twenty-five inches; bill, one and three-fifths inches, dark 

 slate; head, dark gray, with purplish reflections; crown, 

 blackish; chin, black; white vertical band on each side of 

 the head in front of the eye; back, dark slate, the feathers 

 with buff edgings; breast, belly and sides, light brown, 

 tinged with cinnamon and with dusky spots and mottling; 

 tail, dark brown, pointed, reaching two inches be- 

 yond the closed wings; wings, slaty, with a grayish blue 

 band and a bright green spot, between which the feathers 

 are tipped with white; legs and feet, yellow. In the fe- 

 male the crown is slate, with an indistinct edge of gray, 

 the sides of the head and the neck are light brown with 

 black spots and the green spot on the wings is a darker 

 hue. The number of eggs is from six to twelve, of a 

 cream color, one and nine-tenths by one and three- tenths 

 inches in size. They breed throughout the whole of 

 northern North America and are found mainly on fresh 

 water, being most plentiful in New Jersey in September 

 and April. They spend the winter in the south as far 

 down as the West Indies and northern South America. 

 Their food is principally vegetable, the seeds of reeds and 



