126 ANSERIFORMES chap. 



Kuril Islands, winters in North Africa, India, Ceylon, Siam, China, 

 and Japan, and wanders to North America. The head is chestnut 

 with a green eye-patch enclosed by a huffish line, the upper parts 

 are veriniculated with black and white, the speculum is black, 

 green, and purple with a whitish border, the chest is buff with 

 black spots, the under parts are white. N. carolinense of North 

 America, which strays to Europe — including Britain, has a white 

 crescent on each side of tlie breast. N. formosum of East Siberia, 

 met with in winter in China, and accidentally in India, Italy, and 

 France, has the head varied with black, green, buff, and white, a 

 bluish wash on the back and chest, a speculum of buff, green, and 

 white. In these three species the female is mottled with brown 

 and rufous, and has a duller speculum. JV. castayieum of Australia 

 and New Zealand, recorded from Celebes and Java, the doubtful 

 N. gihherifrons of the ilalay Archipelago, JSf. alhi(jiilare of tiie 

 Andamans, N. hernieri of Madagascar, I^. ccqjense of South and 

 East Africa, N. fiavirostra of America south of Southern Brazil 

 and Chili, N. andium of Ecuador and Venezuela, N. georgicum of 

 South Georgia, N. punctatum of South and East Africa with 

 Madagascar, N. hrasiliense of South America generally, and i\' 

 torqiuitiun of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, complete the 

 genus. Teal are fresh-water Ducks, feeding chiefly at night 

 on water-plants, seeds, worms, and insects ; they are rather silent, 

 and have not the rattling spring-note of the Garganey. The 

 nest is in both cases usually placed at some distance from water 

 in grass, rushes, or heather, the eight to ten eggs being greenish 

 in the Teal and cream-coloured in the Garganey. 



Mureca penelope, the Wigeon, which breeds in Scotland, and 

 ranges across North Europe and Asia to Alaska, occurring in 

 winter as far south as Madeira, Abyssinia, Borneo, or even 

 Polynesia, and occasionally on the American coasts, has a rufous 

 head with buff crown, blackish throat and quill-feathers, white 

 upper parts vermiculated with black, white wing-coverts and 

 lower surface, and a green speculum with a black edge. The female 

 is mottled with brown and rufous above, and has a grey-green 

 speculum, and huffish lower parts. This species, which has a 

 whistling cry, whence it is termed " AVhew," feeds chiefly by day 

 on grass-wrack and the like when frequenting the mud-flats in 

 winter ; the nest is among dry heather or rushes, and contains 

 from seven to ten greenish-buff eggs. M. americana, of North 



