a ie 
584 BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 
them, and, getting out, pushes her before him over the slippery mud, 
concealing himself all the while behind her: by this method he can 
sometimes approach within twenty yards of the flock, among which 
he generally makes great slaughter. They fly rapidly, and, when 
they alight, drop down suddenly, like the Snipe or Woodcock, among 
the reeds or on the mud. They feed chiefly on vegetable food, and 
are eagerly fond of the seeds of the reeds or wild oats. Their flesh 
is excellent, and, after their residence for a short time among the reeds, 
becomes very fat. As the first frosts come on,'they proceed to the 
south, being a delicate bird, very susceptible of cold. They abound 
in the inundated rice-fields, in the Southern States, where vast numbers 
are taken in traps placed on simall, dry eminences, that here and there 
rise above the water. These places are strowed with rice, and by the 
common contrivance called a figure four, they are caught alive in hol- 
low traps. In the month of April they pass through Pennsylvania for 
the north, but make little stay at that season. I have observed them 
numerous on the Hudson opposite to the Katskill Mountains. They 
rarely visit the sea-shore. 
This species ‘measures about fourteen inches in length, and twenty- 
two inches in extent; the bill is long in proportion, and of a dark 
dusky slate; the front and upper part of the head are black; from the 
eye to the chin is a large crescent of white; the rest of the head and 
half the neck are of a dark slate, richly glossed with green and violet ; 
remainder of the neck and breast is black or dusky, thickly marked 
with semicircles of brownish white, elegantly intersected with each 
other; belly, pale brown, barred with dusky, in narrow lines; sides 
and vent, the same tint, spotted with oval marks of dusky ; flanks ele- 
gantly waved with large semicircles of pale brown; sides of the vent, 
pure white ; under the tail-coverts, black; back, deep brownish black, 
each feather waved with large semi-ovals of brownish white; lesser 
wing-coverts, a bright light blue ; primaries, dusky brown ; secondaries, 
black; speculum, or beauty spot, rich green; tertials, edged with 
black or light blue, and streaked down their middle with white; the 
tail, which is pointed, extends two inches beyond the wings; legs and 
feet, yellow, the latter very small; the two crescents of white, before 
the eyes, meet on the throat. : 
The female differs in having the head and neck of a dull dusky slate, 
instead of the rich violet of the male; the hind head is also whitish 
the wavings on the back and lower parts, more indistinct; wing, nearly 
the same in both. 
