298 
ANAS BRASILIENSIS 
Flight. The Brazilian Teal flies with wings rather depressed in such a way that 
in the proper light the observer is given a flne impression of the brilliant coloring on 
the coverts and secondaries. The flight is low and swift and the flocks are usually 
rather small, numbering from ten or twelve to twenty (E. Gibson, 1920; C. H. B. 
Grant, 1911; Harris, in lift.). 
Association with other Species. It seems to be a rather independent, and for 
its size, a rather aggressive bird when brought into contact with other ducks. 
Over nearly the whole of its range there are no other surface-feeding ducks for it to 
associate with, but it is found in the same waterways as the Muscovy, and it is said 
to associate with the White-faced Tree Duck, though the two species form separate 
flocks when flushed (R. Schomburgk, 1848; R. G. Harris, in litt.). 
Voice. The notes of the Brazilian Teal are easily distinguished from those of 
other so-called “Teal.” The male’s note has been described in various ways: as a 
“loud squeaking whistle” which bears no resemblance to that of Anas crecca (Hein- 
roth, 1911) and as a “strong piercing prolonged whistle” (Rogeron, 1903). To a less 
prosaic and somewhat sentimental observer the note seemed a “long, plaintive 
whistle, singularly pure and sweet in sound, and usually heard in the evening” 
during the “love-season” (P. L. Sclater and Hudson, 1889). This note is used both 
during flight and when on the water. Heinroth (1911) tells us that when highly 
excited and especially when the female was scolding at another denizen of the pond, 
the male utters a sound like wiwiwiwi, or at times simply a vnwi. 
The female has a quacking note, not different from that of other Teal, except that 
it is much louder. Heinroth (1911) says that when scolding, the female, too, utters a 
rough squeaking note. Mr. Harris, who at my request observed many of these birds 
in the field in Brazil, writes me that they utter a quacking note while swimming, 
and when startled and flying they give what he describes as a “grunt-like quack” 
often repeated, so that the birds could be heard before coming into sight. He 
evidently did not hear the male’s note at all. 
The trachea of the male was described but not figured by Eyton (1838). In a 
specimen which I saw in the U.S. National Museum the length was 130 mm.; it was 
uniform in caliber to the bifurcation where there is a well-defined tracheal bulb, 
roughly spherical, left-sided and about 9 mm. in diameter. It runs out anteriorly 
into a triangular-shaped bony lump. 
Food. I am not aware of any published notes concerning the food of these 
birds, and can only quote a meager note from Mr. Harris, based on three specimens. 
Of these three only one had been feeding recently and this had the oesophagus and 
gizzard full of marsh fruits, with one bulbous root, one planarian (flatwmrm) and 
one semi-digested insect, apparently one of the Orthoptera (grass-hoppers). 
