146 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



the male emits a long inflected note, plaintive and 

 exquisitely pure in sound — a more melodious note 

 it would be diflicult to find even among the songsters. 



BRAZILIAN TEAL 



Qaerqaedttla brasiliensis 



Above brown; head more rufous; lower back, tail, and lesser 

 wmg-coverts black; wings brownish black; outer webs of inner 

 primaries and the secondaries shining bronze-green ; broad tips of 

 outer secondaries white, divided from the green area by a black band ; 

 beneath paler, breast washed with rusty red ; bill and feet orange ; 

 length 15.S, wing 7 inches. 



This richly coloured Teal, which is widely extended 

 in South America from Guiana down to the Straits 

 of Magellan, is usually met with in pairs near Buenos 

 Ayres, although as many as five or six are sometimes 

 seen together. In habits it is a tree-Duck, preferring 

 water-courses in the neighbourhood of woods, and 

 is frequently seen perched on horizontal branches. 

 The flight is slow and with the wings very much 

 depressed, as in a Duck about to alight on the water ; 

 and the beautiful blue, green, and white speculum is 

 thus rendered very conspicuous. The note of the 

 male in the love-season is a long, plaintive whistle, 

 singularly pure and sweet in sound, and heard usually 

 in the evening. 



It is a rather curious coincidence that the ver- 

 nacular name of this Teal in La Plata should be 

 Pato Portugues, which means, as things are under- 

 stood in that region, Brazilian Duck. 



