222 GREEN- WINGED TEAL, 



ing-places are in the interior of the fur countries ; as it has been met there 

 by Sir Edward Parry, Sir James Ross, Dr Richardson, and other 

 intrepid travellers. Some, however, remain on our great lakes, and I 

 have seen individuals breeding on the banks of the Wabash, in Illinois, 

 where I found a female with young, all of which I obtained. It was not 

 far above Vincennes, and in the month of July. On Lakes Erie and 

 Michigan, nests containing eggs have also been found ; but these may 

 have been cases in which the birds were unable to proceed farther north, 

 on account of wounds or other circumstances, or because of the early pe- 

 riod at which they might have paired before the general departure of the 

 flocks, a cause of detention more common in migratory birds than people 

 seem to be aware of. These opportunities, few as they were, have ena- 

 bled me to see the kinds of places in which the nests were found, the 

 structure of the nest, the number, size, and colour of the eggs ; so that I 

 have in so far been qualified to draw a comparison between our Green- 

 winged Teal and that of Europe. 



The Green-wings leave the neighbourhood of New Orleans in the end 

 of February ; but in the Carolinas they remain until late in March, at 

 which time also they depart from all the places between the Atlantic and 

 the States of Kentucky, Indiana, &c. Farther eastward I have seen this 

 species as late as the 9th of May, when I shot a few not far from Phila- 

 delphia. As you advance farther along our coast, you find it more rare ; 

 and scarcely any are met with near the shores of the British provinces. 

 In Newfoundland and Labrador, it is never seen. Its migrations south- 

 ward, I am satisfied, extend beyond the United States ; but their ex- 

 treme limits are unknown to me. I have seldom seen it associate with 

 other species, although I have frequently observed individuals on a pond 

 or river not far from other Ducks. It is more shy than the Blue-winged 

 Teal, but less so than most of our other fresh-Water Ducks. Its voice 

 is seldom heard during winter, except when a flock is passing over an 

 other that has alighted, when a few of the males call to the voyagers, as 

 if to invite them to join them. Before they depart, however, they be- 

 come noisy. Combats take place among the males ; the females are seen 

 coquetting around them, and most of the birds are paired before they 

 leave us. 



In the few instances in which I found the nest of this bird, and they 

 were only three, it was not placed nearer the water than five or six yards, 

 and I should not have discovered it had I not first seen the birds swim- 



