BRAZILIAN TEAL 
299 
Courtship and Nesting. Heinroth (1911), who had good opportunity to ob- 
serve these birds in the Berlin Gardens, failed to see any particular display. This 
absence of real display postures seems to be quite common in South American species, 
at least where both sexes are brilliantly colored. When mated the birds show excep- 
tional courage in attacking such large birds as swans or Semipalmated Geese, and 
there is little doubt that the males remain a long time with their mates, and as with 
the Chilian Widgeon, assist somewhat in guarding the brood and in bringing up the 
young. 
In the southern part of its range, E. Gibson (1920) found one nesting on his place 
on November 4, and Hartert and Venturi (1909) found another nest near Ocampo 
as late as January 2. In the tropical part of its range the breeding season is probably 
much more irregular, apparently lasting from August to January in northern 
Brazil (Azara, 1805; Goeldi, 1894-1900; Euler, 1900). 
The nest is usually located on the ground on the edge of a swamp or lagoon 
(Azara, 1805; Goeldi, 1894-1900; R. Schomburgk, 1848; Harris, in litt.). But the 
only Teal that E. Gibson (1920) ever found nesting on his estate in Buenos Aires 
Province had adopted a previous year’s nest of what was probably the Yellow- 
breasted Marshbird {Pseudoleistes virescens), situated in the top of a stunted tala tree 
about eight feet from the ground, and without any lining. The clutch had been only 
slightly incubated. I strongly suspect that tree-nesting sites are far more common 
than recorded observations would indicate. As a matter of fact very few actual nests 
have been described, and it seems unlikely that these birds would be able to nest on 
the ground in strictly tropical surroundings. 
The clutch numbers six or seven (Hartert and Venturi, 1909; E. Gibson, 1920) and 
the eggs are pure white in color, glossy, and inclined to be spherical in form. Indeed 
E. Gibson (1920) remarks that they might easily be attributed to an owl. The shell 
is not thick, but of china-like hardness, the worst he ever employed his drill upon. 
The measurements are 48-50 by 34-36 mm. The incubation period is unknown, but 
in an avicultural note (Audap, 1887) a female is described as commencing to sit on 
April 19 and hatching the eggs on May 18, making a period of twenty-nine days, 
which is imusually long for so small a duck. We cannot lay much stress on one 
record of this sort. In this same case the female began a second laying on June 9 
and recommenced incubation on June 21, while the male took care of the first 
brood! It is certainly almost unheard of that a female whose eggs have not been 
destroyed or removed, should begin a second clutch before the young are able to 
look after themselves. 
Status. This is the commonest of Brazilian Anatidoe, and, so far as one can say, 
has not been materially reduced in numbers in recent years, except, of course, in 
the vicinity of rising communities. 
