ANATID^— THE SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 133 



tion of reeds and rushes lined in the middle with down and 

 feathers. This duck prefers the dryer marshes near creeks. He 

 has always found its nests well lined with down, and when the 

 female leaves her nest she always covers her egg;s with down, 

 and draws the grass, of which the outside of the nest is com- 

 posed, over the top. He does not think that she ever lays more 

 than twelve eggs, the usual number being eight to twelve. 

 These are of a clear ivory white, without even the slightest tinge 

 of green. They range from 1.80 to 1.95 inches in length, and 

 1.25 to 1.35 in breadth." ( Water Birds, of North America.) 



Anas cyanoptera Yieill. 



GINNAMOX TEAL. 



Popular synonyms. Bed-breasted Teal; Bed Teal; Red Duck; Ceroeta cafe (Mexico). 



Anas cyanoptera ViEiiL. NouT. Diet, v, 1816, 104.— A. O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 



141.— BiDGW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 93. 

 Querg.uedula cyanoptera Cass. U. S. N. Astr. Exp. ii, 1855, 202 (Chili); Illustr. B. Cal. 



Tex. etc. 1855, 82, pi. 15.-BAlitD, B. N. Am. 1858, 780; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 



582.-C0UES. Key, 1S72, 288; Cheek List, 1873, No. 497; 2d ed. 1882, No. 717; B. N. 



W. 1874, 567.— Hensh. Zool.- Wheeler's Exp. 1875, 477.— EroGW. Orn. 40th Par. 



1877, 623; Nom. N. Am'. B. 1881. No. 610.-B. B. & B. Water B. N. Am. i, 1884, 535. 

 Anas rafflesi King. Zool. Jour, iv, 1828, 87; Suppl. pi. 29 (Straits of Magellan). 

 Pterocyanea cceruleata "Licht." Gbat, Gen. B. iii, 1849, 617. 



Hab. Western America, from the Columbia Eiver to Chili, the Argentine Kepublicand 

 Falkland Islands. Casual in Eastern North America (Louisiana, Illinois, Florida?). 



Sp. Chae. Adult male: Head, neok, ^nd lower parts rich purplish chestnut, duller 

 —sometimes quite dusky— on the abdomen; pileum and orissum black; scapulars and 

 part of the back chestnut, marked with U-shaped bars of black, the middle of the back 

 more dusky; tertials black, with a central stripe of buff; longer scapulars similar, the 

 outermost feathers with the outer webs light blue; lesser wing-coverts plain light blue; 

 middle coverts dusky, tipped with white; speculum uniform green, varying from metallic 

 grass-green to bronze; primaries and primary-coverts dusky; upper tail-coverts dusky, 

 edged with pale fulvous; rectrices dusky, edged with brownish white or pale brownish 

 gray; axillars immaculate pure white. Bill deep black; iris orange; feet orange, joints 

 and webs blackish. Adult female: Similar to that of A. discors, but larger and deeper 

 colored, only the upper part of the throat (sometimes only the chin) uhstreaked, the ab- 

 domen usually distinctly spotted; chest deeply tinged with hght brown. Bill dusky, 

 paler beneath and along edge; iris brown; legs and feet oohreous-drab. Young male: 

 Similar to the adult female, but markings on the lower parts all distinctly longitudinal 

 or streak-like. Downy young: Above dark olivaceous, relieved by a longitudinal ob- 

 long obliciue spot of deep greenish buff on eaoh side the back (behind the wings), and 

 a similar spot of clearer yellowish on each side of the base of the tail; the anterior 

 spots confluent with the yello'yr of the sides, the posterior ones isolated by the exten- 

 sion beneath them of the olivaceous of the tail. Pileum and hind neck similar to the back, 

 but darker; forehead, broad superciliary stripe, and rest of the head and neck, except 

 as described, with entire lower parts, deep yellowish buff, the side of the head marked 

 with a distinct narrow stripe of dark brown extending from the upper base of the max- 

 illa to the eye, and thence back to the occiput. 



