286 
ANAS ANDIUM 
Sierra Nevada of Merida (P. L. Sclater and Salvin, 1875). In the Culata Mountains of northwestern 
Venezuela Osgood and Conover (1922) saw eight on the Paramo San Antonio at an elevation of over 
12,000 feet. 
GENERAL HABITS 
Few field-notes concerning this species have been published, and I am greatly in- 
debted to Mr. M. A. Carriker, Jr., of Santa Marta, Colombia, who observed these 
birds in the Boyaca district, for a few notes on their habits. He writes: “As regards 
the Andean Teal sent to you, I have the following data available. They are found 
exclusively on or in close proximity to the lakes, ponds and marshes of the ‘paramos’ 
of the central and eastern cordilleras of the Andes, at least in Colombia; the western 
cordillera is not of sufficient elevation or extension to furnish habitat for them. They 
are seldom seen below 11,000 feet, and range up to snow-line, where conditions are 
suitable. They apparently sleep on the water, selecting the middle of the largest 
available lakes, but feed mostly on the shallow ponds and marshes, around the margins 
of the water, diving also in the shallower parts for food on the bottom. They asso- 
ciate together in flocks or pairs, and as a rule are not particularly shy unless persist- 
ently hunted, which is not often the case. They breed in the marshes and along the 
margins of the lakes where suitable cover is present. I secured young birds (probably 
about three weeks old) along the margin of one of the lakes in the Sierra Nevada de 
Chita, State of Boyaca, altitude about 14,000 feet, on March 13, 1917, and the 
following day a female, just beginning to lay. They are rather silent birds, with a 
weak call-note.” 
Osgood and Conover (1922) found them very tame in northwestern Venezuela. 
One flock of six was so loath to fly that they were thought at first to be unfledged. 
Two could not be forced into the air but sneaked under some bushes by the water 
whence they could not be dislodged. These lakes had very little vegetation and 
dropped right off into deep water so that the Teal must feed on the banks. Accord- 
ing to the natives the breeding season is in August, but it is more than probable 
that nesting is not confined to any particular time. 
