ANAS CIECIA. 



(THE GARGANEY TEAL*.) 



Anas circia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 204 (1706). 



Querquedula circia (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 305' (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 269 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 807 (1864) ; Sharpe & Dresser, 

 B. of Eur. pt. 5 (1871) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 479; Salvadori, Uccelli di Borneo, 

 p. 361 (1874); David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 502 (1877); Hume, Str. Feath. 

 1879, p. 115 (List of Ind. B.). 



La Sarcelle d'Ste, Buff. pi. 946; Marreco, Portuguese; The Rlue-voimjed Teal; Summer 

 Teal in England. Karak aurdak, lit. "Patch-work Duck," Turki (Scully). 



Adult mal, and female. (Ceylon) Wing 7"1 to 7'7 inches. (Denmark) "Wing 7"2 to 7"5 ; tail 2-5 to 2-9; tarsus 

 1*1 to 1-2; middle toe 1-4 to 1/5, claw (straight) 0-36 ; bill to gape 1*8, at front to bend of nail l - 4 to 1*6. — 

 Female (Amoy). Wing 6-8 ; bill at front 1*4. — Female (Sambhur Lake). Length 15-0 ; wing 7'4, expanse 25 - 5; 

 tail 2-8 : tarsus 1-15 ; bill at front 1-5. " Weight 12-75 oz. to 14-78 oz." (Scully, Tarkand ). 



The bill in this species has the culmen almost straight, the anterior part not being so much depressed as in the larger 

 species of the genus. 



Iris pale brown ; bill black, the base beneath pale ; legs and feet brown ; webs darker. 



Mah after autumn moult (Leadenhall Market). Forehead, top of head, and nape blackish brown, bounded on each side 

 by a broad white hand commencing in front of the eye, and the forehead marked with fine whitish lines ; face and 

 neck brownish chestnut, passing on the chest and breast into light tawny, the aforementioned parts striated 

 closely with white, and the latter closely barred with blackish, taking on the chest a crescentic form ; the chin 

 black and unmarked, and the lores darker than the face ; lower hind neck, interscapulars, and back blackish brown, 

 the feathers with pale margins j the upper tail-coverts marked with zigzag cross bars of white; the scapulars 

 lanceolate, Hie uppermost feathers black, tinged with green, with parallel-edged white central stripes; the 

 outer and broader eoncolorous with the wing-coverts, which are pale grey-blue; the greater series with deep 

 while tips, forming a baud across the wing ; the secondaries with similar tips, the outer webs above them shining 

 emerald-green, and the inner blackish brown ; primaries brown, with white shafts and outer margins, the latter 

 vanishing on the two first quills; tertials dark brown, with white outer margins; tail dark brown; abdomen 

 finely vermiculated with brown, spotted with the same on the under tail-coverts, and the flank-feathers crossed 

 with closely set, wavy pencillings of black ; the lowermost feathers tipped with blue-grey, above which is a broad 

 white bar edged with black : axillaries pure white : under wing pale brown, darkening at the anterior part, and 

 with a white patch across the centre. 



Some examples have the wing-coverts and secondaries less brightly coloured, these probably being younger birds than 

 the above; the underparts vary in the amount of vermiculations. 



This dress is worn from October until June, when a rapid moult takes place, and the male assumes a garb very similar 

 to that of the female, except that the wing-coverts and speculum (as, in fact, the entire wing) are as before. The 

 plumage i-. houewr, darker above than that of the female, and the chest is more rufous. In October, or as late 

 as December even, the clothing-feathers are moulted, and the handsome winter and spring dress again assumed. 

 So rapid is the moult in each case that the birds are incapacitated from flying. 



Female (Sambhur Lake. August). Head, lower hind neck, back, rump, and scapulars dark brown, the feathers every- 

 where pale-t ipped ; tawny grey on the head and hind neck, slaty grey on the interscapular region, rump, and 



The Teals, which are placed under the genus Querquedula, Stephens, by most authors, are merely small Ducks, 

 scarcely differing at all from restricted Anas, although the bills are not so wide at the tip nor so flattened at that part. 

 The type of the group is the Garganey, which has the bill high at the base, with the culmen almost straight, and, in fact, 

 the whole organ differing almost as much from that of the Common Teal as it does from that of the Mallard ; the bill 

 is therefore not a good distinguishing character, and I prefer not to adopt the genus in the present instance. 



