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ANAS GEORGICA 
Steinen) means very little more. Unless downy specimens are compared directly with young of the 
more common surface-feeding ducks, little can be learned. I have not seen a specimen in down 
myself. 
DISTRIBUTION 
The South Georgian Teal is confined to the island of South Georgia (in the South Atlantic), where 
it is rather common on the northern coasts (Pagenstecher, 1885; von der Steinen, 1890; Ldnnberg, 
1906; Szielasko, 1907; Murphy, 1916). 
GENERAL HABITS 
This isolated member of the duck tribe, seen by so few naturalists, seems to be 
most closely related to the Brown Pintail of South America. Our knowledge of its 
status and habits is due almost entirely to the explorations of von der Steinen, 
Lonnberg, and more recently the American ornithologist, Robert Cushman Murphy. 
The last-named writer has called attention to its great resemblance to the Brown 
Pintail of which it is almost a miniature, except that the Georgian Teal has sixteen 
tail-feathers against fourteen for the Brown Pintail. 
These birds are found on the small lagoons on the seashore, as well as on the ponds 
of the plateau. They come to the seashore at low tide. Murphy thinks they are 
probably not found on the southern slope of the island. He found them commonest 
in the Bay of Islands in the middle of December, where they were feeding about 
the small islets in the bay, on rocks and kelp-fields, and on the fresh-water ponds in 
the hollows of the grassy islands. 
Wariness. Before they were disturbed these birds were probably the tamest of 
all Anatidce. At the Bay of Islands, where they had not been molested, bands of men 
could walk close up to them, and Murphy himself came within six feet of a pair, 
which only waddled off among the hummocks, from which refuge they peered out at 
him through a screen of drooping grass. Von der Steinen and the other members of 
the South Polar Expedition found them at first not at all suspicious, so that they 
eould be shot while sitting. Gradually they became more wary and in the end were 
quite difficult to secure. Lonnberg says they are particularly shy in winter, when 
they live in flocks on the coast. 
Daily Movements. Their daily habits depend entirely on the tide, for when 
not actually breeding, they seem to spend most of their time on the coast, feeding 
when the tide is out and resting during high water. 
Gait, Swimming, Diving. Before the arrival of white men these Teal probably 
used their wings only for very short flights. Several observers have noted their 
habit of running away in the grass rather than flying, when approached. The old 
