268 
ANAS CAPENSIS 
Adult Female; Similar to the male, but the spotting on the lower side not so well marked. The 
whole plumage is somewhat lighter in tone. 
Size smaller. Wing 190 mm.; bill 38; tarsus 36. 
Immature Specimens: Like adults in a general way, but the lower parts are streaked with poorly 
defined light-brown markings instead of having the barred appearance of later life. The mantle, 
scapulars and rump are duller in appearance and lack the sharply contrasted markings of adult 
plumage. The tail-feathers are blunt at the tips (British Museum specimens). 
Young in Down: WTiite in general color. Top of head, back of neck, cheeks, back and wings, abdo- 
men and upper tail-coverts grayish brown. A line through the eye and down the neck, another line 
from the wings to the base of the tail white. Domti of the wings, the tip of the tail, and the soft parts 
(?) somewhat rusty yellowish. Iris grayish white. Bill and feet bluish black (Sjbstedt, 1910). 
DISTRIBUTION 
The Cape Teal is not a common bird, though it has a large range in Africa, which is being constantly 
extended by scientific exploration. Like most tropical ducks it is not migratory in the accepted sense 
of that term, though it moves about locally in response to seasonal conditions of rainfall. 
In the north its range extends as far as southern Abyssinia, where it has been taken on Lakes 
Haddo and Cialalaka (Salvador!, 1884), at Adda Galla (Giglioli, 1888), Lake Toki (Ogilvie-Grant 
and Reid, 1901) and at Hora Schale (Neumann, 1904). Collectors in this region have none of them 
found it common. 
Farther south it seems to be confined chiefly to the regions of the great lakes and the highlands. 
It is found in Uganda about Lake Nakuru (Hartert, 1900) and in British East Africa is said by 
V. G. L. van Someren (1916) to be common on Lake Naivasha. It is a pretty common bird and 
breeds throughout the Masai country, about the Merker Lakes and Mt. Meru (Schillings, 1905) ; and 
is described by Sjbstedt (1910) as quite common, especially in November, on the Natron Lakes in 
the Kilimandjaro region, where it breeds. Neumann (1898) has recorded it from Lake Manjara, 
and Bbhm (1885) seems to have taken a specimen near Uniamuesi on Lake Tanganyika. West of the 
great lakes the species has been found in the eastern Congo, at Rutshuru, north of Lake Albert Ed- 
ward, in August (Lonnberg, 1917), and in the Katanga region (southeastern Congo) in November 
(Mouritz, 1914). Shelley (1901) has recorded a specimen taken at Mbara in the Nyassa coimtry 
(British Central Africa). 
So far the species has not been recorded from Rhodesia, but Bryden (1893) found it on the Botletle 
River (northern Bechuanaland) and T. Ayres (1869) saw a few in the Transvaal. It has not been re- 
corded from Natal although C. G. Davies (1911) took one in East Griqualand, and C.H.T. Whitehead 
(1903) found it on the Orange River near Aliwal North. Littledale (1908) says it is fairly common 
and breeds on Van Wijks \flei near Carnarvon. Layard (1875-84) has recorded it from Beaufort 
West, Knyona and Vogel Vlei in Paarl, and the Novara Expedition met with it at Simons Town 
{fide Stark and Sclater, 1906). 
In Damaraland and Great Namaqualand, the Cape Teal is rather scarce, being most commonly 
seen about Walfisch Bay. Fleck {fide Reichenow, 1900) has recorded it from Rehoboth in the in- 
terior. Barboza de Bocage (1877-81) states that it is rarer on the coast south of Cunene, but that it 
was found on the coast of Mossamedes and on the Rio Coroco (Angola). How far north its range 
extends in West Africa I am not prepared to say. According to B. Alexander (1907) the species was 
seen occasionally on Lake Chad (!) during his stay there, and de Rochebrune (1883-85), whose state- 
ments cannot be accepted unless confirmed by other observations, says it appears pretty regularly 
in lower Senegambia! He gives various localities where, he alleges, it has been taken. 
