434 BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 
THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 
QuERQUEDULA Dfscors (Linnzus). 
In ‘The Naturalist,’ viii. (1858), p. 168, Mr. W. G. Gibson, writing 
from Dumfries, says, without naming any month, “a specimen of 
the Blue-winged Teal (Aas discors) was shot here a few weeks ago.” 
This bird, erroneously stated by the late Mr. R. Gray to have been 
killed in January 1863, afterwards passed into the collection of 
the late Sir William Jardine, and was subsequently acquired by the 
Edinburgh Museum ; it isa male and undoubtedly genuine. The 
same cannot be said for the bird recorded under this name in ‘The 
Zoologist’ for 1882 (p. 92), which is an immature male of our 
Garganey. 
According to Mr. Oluf Winge, an adult male was shot near Saby 
in Denmark, about the middle of April 1886. I am not aware 
that this species has yet been introduced on ornamental waters in 
Europe; for the bird mentioned in my rst Edition (p. 422), as 
having been sent from Tours, proved to be the Cinnamon Teal, 
Q. cyanoptera. 
The Blue-winged Teal has a more southern habitat than the pre- 
ceding, being seldom met with north of lat. 60°, while it is very local 
on the Pacific coast. It breeds, in suitable localities, from Labrador 
to Florida, and from the Saskatchewan to Mazatlan, as well as abund- 
antly in the Mississippi valley ; and in winter its migrations extend 
to the Bermudas, Mexico, the West Indies, and Guatemala. The 
eggs, 8-12 in number, are pale buff: measurements 1°85 by 1°35 in. 
The food and habits do not differ materially from those of the pre- 
ceding species. 
The adult male has the throat, forehead and crown dark lead- 
colour ; in front of the eye a long crescentic patch of white; cheeks 
and neck dull lavender-grey ; back mottled with reddish-buff ; lesser 
wing-coverts lapis-lazuli blue (far more vivid than in our Garganey) ; 
on the wing a white bar, followed by a bronze-green patch ; under 
parts pale reddish; bill black; feet yellowish. Length 16 in. ; 
wing 7°5 in. The female is mottled with dull brown and buff, and 
has only an indistinct eye-stripe. 
