116 , FALCATED TEAL. 



the eastern part of Siberia, from the River Jenisei to the Lena, and 

 beyond Lake Baikal, as stated by Pallas in his travels, vol. iii, p. 701, 

 and in the ^'Journey to Georgia," 1772, p, 168. Latham says it 

 probably winters in the Mongolian deserts, and he states that he 

 received a live specimen from China, which lived for some time among 

 ^' other poultry, and was pretty familiar." Middendorif, in his "Siber- 

 ische Reise," vol. ii. p. 231, gives an account of it in Siberia, and 

 figures the female and its egg. More recently. Dr. Leopold Von 

 Schrenck has given a long and somewhat prolix history of the 

 young birds as he observed them in the Amoor Land, ("Vogel des 

 Amur-Landes," vol. i, part 2, p. 476.) From this work I quote the 

 following : — 



" Atias falcata is a very plentiful Duck in Amoor Land. According 

 to Pallas it first appears in Siberia in the spring, and I shot my 

 first specimen near Nikolajevschen Posten, on the 6th. (18th.) of May, 

 1855. It might probably have been found there about the end of 

 April, since Middendorif notes its appearance at Udskoi-Ostrog as 

 early as the 3rd. of May, and at Utschur on the 14th. On the 28th. 

 of May (June 9th.) I found A. falcata at Borbi, on the upper 

 part of the Mariinskischen Posten, already paired, and the male in 

 full breeding plumage. In the summer of 1856, on the 1st. (loth.) 

 of June, I shot an old male on the Ja'i-Flusse, which appeared to 

 be without a mate, and had probably already bred. More than a 

 m.onth later, on the 6th. (18th.) of July, 1855, Herr Maack killed 

 an old female near the mouth of the Ssungari-Mlindung, which 

 certainly had a very worn and faded plumage, but yet showed no 

 trace of moulting. Middendorif observed the young near Udskoi- 

 Ostrog on the 4th. of August, with the wing feathers just sprouting 

 out, and I shot a similar specimen on the 22nd. of August, (Sep- 

 tember 3rd.,) near the mouth of the River Komar, but I found young 

 ones near the Nikolajevschen Posten on the 8th. (20th.) of September, 

 with fully-developed wings, and on the 19th. of September they had 

 no trace of breeding plumage." "I killed three specimens in a few 

 minutes, one after the other, as they swam towards me when hidden 

 on the banks of the river." 



Middendorff says, — "This Duck nested abundantly in the Stanowoj 

 Mountains, as far up as the immediate neighbourhood of the ridges 

 themselves." 



The adult male in breeding plumage has the forehead, top of the 

 head, and cheeks a rich brown, the latter tinged with metallic green; 

 from the eye extending backwards to the occiput and nape, where 

 they unite and form a crest, is a broad band of rich metallic green 



