28 BULLETIN «62, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



■with beach fleas, or amphipods. Crustaceans which had been taken 

 by 5 other teals were too fragmentary for identification. 



MISCELLANEOUS ANIMAL FOOD, 0.31 PER CENT. 



The miscellaneous animal food,, which amounted to only 0.31 per 



cent, consisted principally of the remains of a few minnows and 



other small fishes, a few spiders, and several tiny water mites, or 



hvdrachnids. 



CINNAMON TEAL. 



Querquedula cyanoptera. 

 Plate V. 



The cinnamon teal is a western bird, its breeding range in North 

 America extending from eastern Wyoming and western Kansas west 

 to the Pacific coast, and from southern British Columbia and south- 

 western Alberta south to northern Lower California, northern Mexico, 

 southern New Mexico, and central western Texas. Its distribution 

 is very remarkable in that it not only breeds in the Northern 

 Hemisphere, but also over a large area in South America, the two 

 colonies being separated by a zone about 2,000 miles wide in which 

 the species is practically unknown. The cinnamon teal of North 

 America migrates in winter only a short distance south of its breeding 

 range in Mexico and is found at this season as far north as Browns- 

 ville, Tex., central New Mexico, southern Arizona, and Tulare Lake, 

 California. The South American birds migrate slightly northward 

 after nesting, but the. breeding seasons of the two colonies, are, of 

 course, reversed. 



The male cinnamon teal differs from the blue-wing in appearance 

 in having a blackish area on the top of the head, and chestnut or 

 cinnamon brown on the remainder of the head, neck, and underparts, 

 giving it the local name of red-breasted teal. 



FOOD HABITS. 



Only 41 stomachs of the cinnamon teal were available for examina- 

 tion. These were collected during the eight months from March to 

 October, and from the States of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Montana, 

 Oregon, and California, the bulk being from Utah and California. 

 Although the number is too small to furnish an accurate estimate of 

 the percentages of various foods taken, nevertheless the results are of 

 value in showing that this species probably does not differ materially 

 in habits from the other two North American teals. 



Vegetable Food. 



Like the green-wing and the blue-wing, the cinnamon teal lives 

 mainly upon vegetable food, this comprising about four-fifths (79.86 

 per cent) of the total contents of the stomachs examined. . And like 

 the other teals its two principal and most constant items of food are the 



