ANAS CEECCA. 



(THE COMMON TEAL.) 



Anas crecca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 204 (1766). 



Qmrquedula crecca (L.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 305 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, 



Cat. p. 136 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 269 ; Jerdon, B. of 



Ind. iii. p. 806 (1864) ; Sharpe & Dresser, B. of Eur. pt. 1 (1871) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 479; Von Heuglin, Orn. N.Ost-Afr. ii. p. 1322 (1873); David & Oust. Ois. 



de la Chine, p. 502 (1877) ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1879, p. 115 (List B. of Ind.). 

 Petite Sarcelle, Buffon, PI. Enl. 947 ; KrucJcente, German ; Marreco, Portuguese. Tulsia 



bigri, Bengal. ; Kerkedj, Arabic. 



Adult male and female. (Sambhur Lake) Length 14-0 to 14-8 inches ; wing 6-9 to 7-3, expanse 21-9 to 23-5 ; tail 2-8 

 to 3-0 ; tarsus 1*1 to 1-15 ; middle toe (without claw) 1-4, claw (straight) 0-3 ; bill to gape 1-6 to 1-7. (Kashghar) 

 " Length 14-0 to 14-3 ; wing 7'0 to 7-25 ; tarsus 1-17 to 1-2" {Scully).— Males (Europe). Wing 6-9 to 7-3 ; tarsus 

 1-1 to 1-15 ; bill at front to bend of nail 1-4 to 1-5. Bill stouter in the male than in the female ; the latter 

 smaller also in all its dimensions. 



Male. Iris brown; bill black ; legs and feet brown ; claws black. 



Male after autumn moult (Sambhur, December). Head, throat, and upper part of fore neck rufous-chestnut, the feathers 

 tipped pale ; an elongated glossy green patch from just in front of the eye to the nape ; chin and bordering the 

 gape brown, succeeded by a buff border, which passes in a streak above the eye and down beneath the green patch 

 in the form of a white line ; just beneath the eyelid a whitish spot ; fore neck, hind neck below the rufous, inter- 

 scapular region, sides of breast, and rump black-brown, finely vermiculated with white ; rump ashy brown, mottled 

 with whitish ; upper tail-coverts black, paling off into buff at the edges ; tail grey-brown, with pale edges ; wing- 

 coverts brownish ashy, the greater series broadly tipped with white, changing into rufous on the inner feathers ; 

 primaries and inner webs of secondaries plain brown ; outer webs of the foremost secondaries velvety black, tipped 

 with white, those of the innermost shining emerald-green illumined with blue; lowermost tertial feathers 

 whitish next the shaft, with a broad black border ; beneath white, the feathers of the chest and upper breast with 

 round blackish spots ; the abdomen marked with cross rays of paler brown than the flanks ; under tail-coverts 

 black, broadly edged with white, the lateral feathers buff ; axillaries and centre of under wing pure white ; edge 

 of under wing brown. 



This dress is assumed in October and worn until the following June, about the end of which a plumage similar to 

 that of the female described below is put on, except that the upper surface is more uniform, wanting the crescentic 

 edgings in a great measure. The larger size of the bill likewise serves to distinguish the male in this dress. 



Adult female. Bill not so black as in the male ; legs tinged with reddish. 



Above dark brown, paler on the hind neck ; feathers of the head margined with rufescent grey ; lower hind neck and 

 back with pale crescentic bars, which are whitish, except on the upper back and scapulars, where they are rufes- 

 cent ; upper tail-coverts edged with buff-grey ; tail darker brown than in male ; wing-coverts slightly darker 

 than in the male, innermost part of the white wing-bar not quite so much tinged with rufous ; speculum the 

 same, but smaller ; tertials narrowly edged with white, with an internal dark border ; lores, face, and sides and 

 front of neck whitish, the feathers centred with brown ; throat unspotted white, or white with small brown specks ; 

 beneath white ; lower part of fore neck tinged with fulvous at the margins of the feathers, next to which is a dark 

 ring enclosing a white centre, which is concealed ; flanks brown, with white edges and inner lanceolate bauds of 

 rufous-buff ; axillaries and under wing as in the male. 



Young, nestling. Not to be distinguished from that of the Grarganey, previously described. 



Immature in first autumn. Characterized by its rufescent markings above and by the stronger rufous tint of the chest: 

 the rufous edgings and bands of the scapulars brighter than those of the back ; the white wing-bar more 



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