CINNAMON TEAL 
395 
Its distribution is exceedingly interesting and by no means entirely understood. 
There is good reason to think that the bird was originally an inhabitant of the 
southern hemisphere only, and that it extended its range to North America in com- 
paratively recent times. Coues (1874) brought together all the earliest references 
to its occurrence in North America, and seems to have been impressed by the fact 
that the invasion was recent. The view is somewhat strengthened by its very 
scattered and irregular distribution in summer, and by the apparently recent ex- 
tension of the breeding range into North Dakota, perhaps even Alberta and Saskat- 
chewan. 
Wariness. It resembles the Blue-winged Teal in being one of the tamest of all 
surface-feeding ducks. These remarks apply to its behavior on the breeding grounds 
in California (H. C. Bryant, 1914), Oregon (J. C. Merrill, 1888) and Colorado 
(Preble, U.S. Biological Survey). Observers in South America have not com- 
mented on its relative wariness, and neither Mr. Peters (MS.) nor Dr. Wetmore 
(MS.) noted anything on this point. One of the older writers. Captain Abbott 
(1861), spoke of it as “very wild” in the Falklands, but this can hardly be a correct 
estimate. 
Daily Movements. Same as with related species. 
Gait, Swimming, Diving, Perching. The Cinnamon Teal seemed to Rogeron 
(1903) more clumsy and thick-set than other Teal, and somewhat lacking in grace 
and charm. I myself have never had the opportunity to watch them in the field. 
Although there are no notes from our own West regarding perching, there is not 
much doubt that in the forested regions of parts of the South American range, it 
may do so. E. Gibson (1920) tells what he considers an exceptional incident of a 
pair which alighted on the brick chimney of one of the buildings in the workmen’s 
quarters of his estancia in Argentina. They remained for a quarter of an hour and 
allowed him to approach within a few yards. This was in the breeding season. 
Flight. Large flocks do not occur in our Southwest except when arriving in 
spring and just before leaving in autumn. Even in these flocks the individuals seem 
to keep more or less in pairs (Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, 1918). Neither Peters 
(MS.) nor Wetmore (MS.) in their recent journeys in South America ever saw these 
Teal in large companies. Wetmore speaks of a flock of thirty males in early Decem- 
ber in the Rio Negro region. 
Association with other Species. In North America this Teal associates com- 
monly with the Green-winged Teal, and in the breeding season with Blue-wings too 
