534 LAMELLIROSTKAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



are exceedingly fat. Tliey depart, however, when the weather becomes so cold that 

 ice forms. Toward the end of February they again become abundant ; but this time 

 they are lean, though in their summer garb, in which the male is very beautiful. 

 During their stay they are seen in the bayous and ponds, along the banks of the llis- 

 sissippi, and on the large and muddy sand-bars, feeding on grasses and their seeds, 

 particularly in autumn, when they are very fond of the wild pimento. In the spring 

 some remain as late as the ISth of May. 



On the 26th of April, 1837, in his visit to Texas, Audubon found them on all the 

 ponds and salt bayous or inlets of Galveston Island, as well as on the watercourses of 

 the interior, where, he was assured, they breed in great numbers. 



The flight of this Duck is extremely rapid, fully as swift as that of the Passenger 

 Pigeon. When advancing against a stiff breeze it shows alternately its upper and 

 lower surface. During its flight it utters a soft, lisping note, which it also emits when 

 apprehensive of danger. It swims buoyantly, and when in a flock so closely together 

 that the individuals nearly touch each other. In consequence of this habit hunters 

 are able to make a frightful havoc among these birds on their first appearance in 

 the fall, when they are easily approached. Audubon has seen as many as eighty-four 

 killed by a single discharge of a double-barrelled gun. 



It may readily be kept in confinement, soon becomes very docile, feeds readily on 

 coarse corn-meal, and might easily be domesticated. Professor Kumlien, however, 

 has made several unsuccessful attempts to raise this Duck by placing its eggs under 

 a Domestic Hen. He informs me that this species is the latest Duck to arrive in 

 the spring. It is very common, and breeds abundantly in Southern Wisconsin, espe- 

 cially on the borders of Lake Koskonong. It nests on the ground among the reeds 

 and coarse herbage, generally near the water, but he has met with its nest at least 

 half a mile from the nearest water, though always on low land. The nest is simply 

 an accumulation of reeds and rushes lined in the middle with down and feathers. 

 This Duck prefers the dryer marshes near creeks. He has always found its nests 

 well lined with down, and when the female leaves her nest she always covers her 

 eggs with down, and draws the grass, of which the outside of the nest is composed, 

 over the top. He does not think that she ever lays more than twelve eggs, the usual 

 number being eight to twelve. These are of a clear ivory white, without even the 

 slightest tinge of green. They range from l.SO to 1.95 inches in length, and from 

 1.25 to 1.35 in breadth. 



Queiquedula cyanoptera. 



THE CINNAMON TEAL. 



Anas cyanopUra, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. V. 1816, 104. 



Qmrqucdula ajanojitcni, Cas.s. U. S. Astr. Exp. II. 1856, 202 (Chili) ; llliistr. B. Cal. Tex. etc. 1855, 

 82, pi. 15. — Baii'.d, B. N. Am. 1858, 780 ; C.it. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 582. — CoUEs, Key, 1872, 

 288 ; Check List, 1873, no. 497 ; 2d etl. 1882, no. 717 ; B. N". w. 1874, 567. — Eidgw. Norn. 

 N. Am. B. 1881, no. 610. 



Anas Eafflcsi, King, Zooh Jour. IV. 1828, 87; Suppl. pi. 29 (Straits of JVIagellan). 



Pkroajanea cmruleata, "Light." Gk.w, Gen. B. III. 1849, 617. 



Had. Western America, from the C'oliunliia River to Chili, Buenos Ayres, and Falkland 

 Islands. Casual in Eastern North America (Louisiana, Illinois, Florida X) 



Sp. Char. Adult male: Head, neck, and lower parts rich purplish chestnut, duller — some- 

 times quite dusky — on the abdomen ; pileum and crissum lilack ; scapulars and part of the Ijack 

 chestnut, marked with U-shaped hars of black, the middle of the back more dusky ; tertials black. 



