EUBOPEAN TEAL 119 



European Teal 



Nettion crecca (Linnaeus) 



Other najie — Anas crecca. 



Desceiption — Adult male: "Similar to . . . [the Green-winged Teal] but 

 no white bar on side of breast, black and whitish undulations of sides, etc., 

 much coarser, inner webs of outermost scapulars wholly, and outer webs 

 partly, white, the exposed portion of outer webs mostly black ..." (Ridgway, 

 1887, p. 94). Total length "about 14.00" inches (356 mm.); folded wing 

 "7.00-7.30" (178-186); bill along culmen "1.45-1.50" (36.8-38.2); tarsus 

 "1.10-1.25" (28.0-31.8) (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884, II, p. 7). Adult 

 female: "Not distinguishable with certainty from that of [Green-winged 

 Teal] N. carolinensis?" (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, loc. cit.). "Females 

 and young of this teal can scarcely be determined unless by careful com- 

 parison with authentic specimens, but seem to be browner and less finely 

 variegated than the American bird" (Eaton, 1910, p. 191). Natal plumage: 

 See Green-winged Teal. 



Makes for nst-D identification — Adult male: as for Green-winged Teal 

 but white bar on side of breast lacking. Female cannot be distinguished from 

 that of Green-winged Teal (Chapman, 1912, p. 195). 



Voice — ^Like that of Green-winged Teal. 



Nest — In bogs and marshes in grassy fields; formed of grasses and reeds, 

 warmly lined with feathers (Davie, 1889, p. 64). 



Eggs — 8 to 10, sometimes 15, oval in shape, measuring in inches 1.75 by 1.30 

 (in millimeters, 44.5by 33.0); color yellowish white (Davie, loc. cit.). 



General distribution — Northern part of Eastern Hemisphere. Occasional 

 in North America; recorded from the Aleutian Islands, California, Greenland, 

 Labrador, Nova Scotia, Maine, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and 

 Virginia (A. O. U. Cheek-list, 1910, p. 70). 



Distribution in California — Known chiefly from Cooper's statement (1886, 

 p. 125) that in his time it had been ' ' found not rarely in California. ' ' 



The European Teal is widely distributed over the Old World, 

 breeding throughout Europe and Asia. The records of its occurrence 

 in North America are very few. Specimens have been taken along 

 the Atlantic Coast from Labrador to the District of Columbia ; several 

 have been found in the markets of New York City. On the Pacific 

 Coast but two records are known, one for the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, 

 and the other for California. The latter record, as far as we are 

 aware, is unfortunately not substantiated by specimens in any collec- 

 tion. The dates of capture elsewhere in America are for every month 

 of the year, except January, August, and October; those from the 

 United States range from November to April (Cooke, 1906, p. 30). 

 This teal is known to be abundant on the eastern coast of Asia as far 

 north as Kamchatka and Bering Island. 



Although Cooper (1886, p. 125) records the European Teal as 

 having been "found not rarely in California," no other record of 

 its occurrence within the state is known to us. Belding (MS) thought 



