CAPE TEAL 
ANAS CAPENSIS Gmelin 
(Plate 35) 
Synonymy 
Anas capensis Gmelin, Linne’s Systema Naturae, ed. 13, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 527, 1788. 
Mareca capensis Stephens, General Zool., vol. 12, pt. 2, p. 139, 1824. 
Chauliodus capensis Swainson, Journ. Royal Inst. Gt. Britain, vol. 2, p. 19, 1831. 
Anas larvata Lesson, Traite d’Ornith., p. 634, 1831 {nomen nudum); Pucheran, Rev. 
et Mag. de Zool., ser. 2, vol. 2, p. 549, 1850 (descr.). 
Querquedula capensis Smith, Cat. South African Mus., p. 37, 1837. 
Pcecilonetta georgica G. R. Gray {nec Gmelin), List Birds British Mus., pt. 3, p. 134, 
1844. 
Anas assimilis Forster, Descriptiones Animalium, p. 46, 1844. 
Chaulelasmus strepera, a. capensis Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 
43, p. 650, 1856. 
Querquedula larvata Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 43, p. 650, 1856. 
Nettion capense Salvador!, Cat. Birds British Mus., vol. 27, p. 259, 1895. 
Vernacular Names 
English: Cape Teal, Cape Widgeon, African Pink-billed Teal. 
German: Kapische Ente. 
Dutch: Teal-Eendje, Bruine-Eend, Kaapse Smee-Eend. 
Arabic: Boro. 
DESCRIPTION 
Adult IVIale : Head and neck whitish, dotted and streaked with blackish. Chin and throat nearly 
immaculate white. Mantle mottled black, white, and buff color. Scapulars dark brown edged with 
light gray or reddish brown. Back and rump grayish brown; tail gray, edged with whitish. Breast 
whitish with light-brown spots or bars. Flanks like the breast, but the spots larger. Rest of lower 
surface nearly white with indistinct spots of dull brown. Under tail-coverts barred with irregular 
brown spots. Wing-coverts dark gray, except the last row which carry a broad white anterior 
speculum band. Speculum glossy green in its center, but black on outer and inner border, and also 
posteriorly. The outer secondaries are pure white, and the tips of all are white, forming a broad 
white posterior speculum band. Primaries dark brown. Tertials brownish to grayish with lighter 
edges. Under wing-coverts brown, axillars nearly white, with the shaft of the feather black. 
Iris from light hazel to deep orange. According to Littledale the bill is a deep waxen semi- 
transparent pink with the base and edge of the upper mandible black, and an indistinct streak of 
turquoise extending from the base about two-thirds of the length of the culmen. H. A. Bryden (1893) 
gives the bill as “reddish-pink,” and Davies calls it a delicate waxy pink. Feet ochraceous fuscous. 
Wing 185-200 mm.; bill 38-40; tarsus 33-39. 
