SHOAL-WATER DUCKS. 207 



Querquedula carolinensis. — Steph, Green-winged Teal. 



The Green-winged Teal is colored as follows : Head and 

 apper neck, chestnut, with a broad glossy green band on each 

 side, whitish-bordered, uniting and blackening on the nape, under 

 parts whitish, the fore breast with circular black spots, upper 

 parts and flanks closely waved with white and blackish, speculum 

 rich green, hence the name, bordered in front with the buffy tips 

 of the greater coverts, behind, with the white tips of the seconda- 

 ries ; weight about ten ounces. 



Teal shooting is not practiced in the Western country as a 

 separate sport, but numbers are shot by parties after Redheads and 

 Mallard. Where the larger ducks are so plenty, the comparatively 

 small Teal is neglected, and, except where large bunches afford 

 opportunities for bagging a dozen or more at a discharge, they are 

 scarcely molested. A sportsman on the watch for Mallard would 

 scorn to shoot at a single Teal ; but in the East, where the game of 

 any kind or size is so thinned out, the case is different, and to bag 

 three or four Teal is quite sufficient to satisfy a sportsman. The 

 Green-vnnged Teal, although a more maritime bird than his near 

 relative, the Blue-winged variety, is yet an excellent table bird, and 

 when shot during the autumn days in their favorite resorts, the 

 creeks and small streams, lined with fringes of corn-grass or wild 

 rice, we know of no bird to surpass them. Bunches of from three 

 to twelve are often sprung from the grass fields while one is in pur- 

 suit of Rail {P. Carolina), and the Rail-hunter, if h.; be provident 

 and foreseeing, will take two or three heavily-loaded shells for such 

 an emergency. 



Querquedula discors. — Steph. Blue-winged Teal. 



Head and neck blackish-plumbeous, darkest on the crown, a 

 white crescent in front of the eye, back brownish-black glossed 

 with green, wing coverts of sky blue with metallic lustre, lower 

 parts pale reddish orange, shaded on the breast with purplish 

 ted aud thickly spotted with black. Length about sixteen inches ; 

 weight twelve ounces. 



This Teal so much resembles the last in size, habits, and 

 other particulars as hardly to warrant a long description. They 



