GARGANY DUCK. 



243 



The Gargany Duck. 



Boschas circia, Siv. (Fig. 37.) 



Grey^ varied with black; with a white stripe beyond the 

 eye : wings with a green speculum. 



Anas circia, Linn., Aitct., Selhy, plate 53. male and female. 

 Anas Querquedula, Temm Man. ii. 844. Querquedula 

 circia, Leach, Cat. Brit. Mus. Selbij, ii. 318. La Carcelle 

 d'et^, PI. Enl. 946. Temm. Man. ii. 844. Gargany Teal, 

 Summer Teal, of British Authors. 



The vernacular name of Teal seems a common de- 

 signation for all ducks of a very small size ; and has 

 been extended not only to those comprised in the re- 

 stricted genus Anas, but to many others^ such as the 

 Dendronessa galericulata, or mandarine duck_, without 

 any regard to the true characters of the birds. In our 

 former paper on this family, we endeavoured to show 

 that there were not sufficient marks of difference between 

 the domestic cluck and the ordinary teal, to authorise 

 their separation, even as subgenera ; and we have not, 

 therefore, adopted that of Querquedula, since the cha- 

 racters that have been assigned to it appear to me by 

 no means sufficient to warrant its separation. 



The gargany is the most beautiful, in the delicacy 

 and variety of its colours, of all the species found in 

 Europe ; and being not only a river duck, but one that 

 shows the greatest aptitude for domestication, it is pe- 

 culiarly adapted to enliven and ornament our aquatic 

 r2 



