Notes on Teal. 317


much smaller size and shorter and straighter bill will, however,

distinguish it at once. It is not common, but there is a specimen

at the Zoo. at present.



The Garganey Teal.

(Que?'qued7da circia).

The Garganey is probably more familiar in captivity than

at large, being a local bird in England where, unlike other ducks,

it is a summer visitor. Yet it bears our winter as well as other

ducks in captivity. In Bengal, at all events, it seems to be the

commonest of the migrant ducks from the north. The drake is

easily recognisable by his speckled-brown head with broad white

eyebrows ; his body is beautifully pencilled on the sides, the

tail-end being mottled brown ; and the wing-coverts are lavender-

grey. The duck is almost exactly like the female common Teal,

but has not the bright green wing-bar. The drake in undress

plumage, which in this species is in actual fact a winter plumage,

is very like the duck, but his lavender wing-coverts distinguish

him. Pallid or "cinnamon" varieties of the Garganey seem to

be not uncommon in India, where I have seen several. They

have flesh-coloured bills and feet, instead of dark gre3', but the

•eyes in those I have seen alive are not pink, but normally

coloured.



The Grey Teal. (See coloured plate J .

{Querqziedula versicolor.)

" Grey " is hardly a fair descriptive title to apply to this

handsomely coloured South American species, which is so

variously marked that it is hard to describe in a few. words.

It may, however, be readily recognised by the colouring of the

head, which is black on the crown and buff on the cheeks. The

breast is spotted, and the body beautifully pencilled, producing a

grey effect. The sexes are almost indistinguishable, so that here,

as in the Chilian Wigeon, we have another case of a South Ameri-

can species, both sexes of which bear a quasi-male plumage.

As in that bird, also, there is no seasonal change in the present

one.



