590 THE GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 



No. 287. 

 GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 



A. O. U. No. 139. Nettion carolinensis (Gmel). ' 



Synonym. — American Green-wingiJd Tbai,. 



Description. — Adult male : Head and upper neck bright chestnut, blacken- 

 ing on chin ; darker on forehead and crown, with a glossy green patch from and 

 including eye to nape, usually separated from chestnut below by a narrow white 

 line which is sometimes traceable to bill; a short occipital crest velvety purplish 

 black ; a crescentic white patch on side of breast before wing ; sides of breast and 

 sides, back, and scapulars continuous with narrow cervical collar, black and white 

 in fine wavy bars or vermiculations ; fore-neck and breast brownish bufif, fading 

 to silky white or buffy on belly, heavily marked anteriorly with round spots, more 

 or less concealed, or not, according to age and season ( ?) ; wing-coverts, inter- 

 scapulars, tertiaries, rump, and posterior parts, slaty gray or fuscous with an oli- 

 vaceous or ochraceous tinge; speculum shining green, velvety purplish black on 

 outer feathers, bounded in front by chestnut or fawn tips of greater coverts, be- 

 hind narrowly by white, and on inner margin by abrupt black of outer ter- 

 tiary; crissum velvety purplish black with a partially enclosed creamy or buff 

 patch on either side ; bill livid black ; feet and legs dusky bluish ; iris brown. 

 Adult female : Speculum substantially as in male ; no other trace of pattern of 

 male save white patch on side of crissum ; upper parts brownish dusky tinged with 

 greenish and edged with lighter ; head and neck dusky brown, streaked with och- 

 raceous above, elsewhere pale buffy, speckled with dusky ; breast and sides brown- 

 ish dusky, ochraceous-brown, and whitish, the former in crescentic and U-shaped 

 markings, and the whole suffused with brownish buffy ; belly and crissum pale 

 buffy or brownish buffy, obscurely spotted and streaked with darker. Length 

 12.50-15.00 (317.5-381.) ; av of six Columbus males: wing 7.08 (179.8) ; tail 2.63 

 (66.8) ; bill 1.48 (37.6) ; tarsus 1.19 (30.2). 



Recognition Marks. — The smallest duck ; chestnut and green head of male ; 

 black and shining green speculum, with size, distinctive. 



Nesting. — Not known to breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground, of weeds and 

 grasses, lined with feathers and down. Eggs, 6-8, rarely 10-12, greenish buff or 

 buffy white. Av. size, 1.82 x 127 (46.2 x 32.3). 



General Range, — North America, breeding chiefly north of the United States, 

 and migrating south to Honduras and Cuba. 



Range in Oliio. — Not uncommon migrant. Formerly abundant. 



THE rare beauty of this diminutive duck is not likely to escape notice, 

 and its flesh has received a correspondingly high rating, altho it takes 

 two of them on a single plate to provide a meal for a hungry gunner. This 

 Teal is among the earliest migrants, following promptly the retreat of the 

 ice in late Eebrtiary and early March, or gathering about the open spring 

 branches, upon the recurrence of a cold snap. It is much less common than 

 formerly, and appears in twos and threes rather than in large flocks ; these 

 little companies may be found in the most unexpected places, — a wayside 

 ditch, a horse pond, or an isolated swamp pool. The bird obtains its food 

 largely upon the land, walking with ease and grace. Fallen seeds, nuts, 



