1884.] COUNT SALVADORI ON ANAS CAPENSIS. 175 



According to Andersson the iris is greenish yellow ; the upper 

 mandible purplish grey, except a small yellowish-piuk patch below 

 the nostrils, which merges gradually into purplish grey ; the under 

 mandible pinkish ; the legs and toes grey, mixed with brown." 

 Bocage, from Anchieta's notes, says : — Bee rouge avec un espace 

 noir a la base de la machoire recouvrant les narines et contouruant 

 le front de deux cotes ; pieds rougeatres, les palmures d'une teinte 

 plus foncee, et les ongles noirs ; iris jaune orange." 



I do not think it possible to confound this Teal with any other 

 species, and indeed I am not able to mention another to which it is 

 nearly aUied. The red bill, with the base and nostrils black, the bright 

 green speculum on the wing, and the head profusely streaked with 

 blackish dots, make it very different from any other species known 

 to me. Still it has been confounded by Schlegel and by G. R. 

 Gray with Anas bernieri (peculiar to Madagascar), from which it may 

 be easily distinguished by the bill, much larger and less compressed, 

 and not entirely reddish, as it is in that species, by the paler 

 colouring of the feathers, by the tail pale grey, instead of darkish 

 brown, by the whiter throat, and by many other different points. 



As regards the geographical distribution of this African Teal, for 

 a long time it was only known near the Cape of Good Hope ; since 

 it has been found in Namaqua- and Damara-land, and in Mossamedes 

 on the south-western coast of Africa ; and quite recently it has 

 been discovered by the late Marquis Orazio Antinori in the kingdom 

 of Shoa, on the north-eastern part of Africa, about the tenth northern 

 parallel. So that we may expect that this bird will be found in all 

 suitable localities between the southern extremity of Africa and Shoa. 



The habits of this Teal are like those of the other members of 

 the same genus. Antinori writes that small flights of this Duck 

 live on the very deep lake Hadd6 ; at first he thought that it 

 did not frequent the other lakes of Shoa, but later he killed a 

 specimen in the very shallow lake Cialalaka. According to Antinori 

 this Teal feeds on vegetable substances and aquatic insects. 

 Andersson writes that though this is a rather scarce Duck in Damara- 

 and Great Namaqua-land, he found it more abundant in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Walyisch Bay than elsewhere in Damara-land. 

 More complete are the accounts we have from the Cape Colony, 

 where Layard says that this Duck is usually confounded with the 

 " Smee Eendtje " (Querqttedula erythrorhyncha), in company with 

 which he has shot it at Beaufort, the Knysna, on the Ca2)e Flats, 

 and at Vogel Vley. At this place he killed one near a nest which 

 contained a single egg ; it was probably one of this species, and was 

 of a dirty greenish-white throughout ; axis 1'' 10'", diam. 1" 6'". 

 Jules Verreaux told Dr. Pucheran that this species is more common 

 than Anas erythrorhyncha, it remains longer near the Cape, and it 

 is very abundant towards the Orange River, and always to be met 

 with in tanks, having the same habits of the allied species. J. Ver- 

 reaux found small mollusks and insects in their stomachs. 



I shall conclude with the remark that this most beautiful Teal has 

 never been brought alive to auy of the Zoological Gardens of Europe. 



