CLUCKING TEAL. 



145 



that Pennant's figure was a very good representation 

 of liis male bird, though they differed in the numbers 

 of tail feathers, that of Pennant having only twelve, 

 while Mr. Vigors' specimens had both sixteen. Nothing- 

 has ever been known about Pennant's specimen, said to 

 have been "taken in a decoy in 1771, and communi- 

 cated to me by — Poore, Esq." 



By comparing, however, Pennant's figure with that 

 of the true Anas glocitans of Pallas, which, through 

 the kindness of IMr. Tristram, I have the opportunity 

 of figuring, it will be at once perceived that the birds 

 are totally different, and consequently that neither the 

 figure of Pennant nor Yarrell, nor the description of 

 Vigors in the "Linnean Transactions," refer to the 

 true Anas gloticans, of whose capture in England we 

 have no proof whatever. This will not now admit of 

 the slightest doubt. I have therefore thought it 

 better to drop the word Bimaculatcd altogether, as 

 applied to the Anas glocitans, and to translate the 

 specific word glocitans into the perhaps less euphonious, 

 but more expressive name of "Clucking," which was 

 applied to it owing to the note being similar to the 

 "cluck" of a hen. 



The "Clucking Teal" is an inhabitant of the cold 

 and inhospitable wastes of the far north. It is a form 

 more truly indigenous to Siberia and the northern 

 parts of Hussia than to any other country. In Siberia 

 it was found by Pallas on the borders of Lake Baikal 

 and the banks of the Lena. Its range extends to the 

 Amur-Lande, Japan, and China. 



From a recent notice of it given by Dr. Leoj^old 

 V. Schrenck, in his "Vogel des Amur-Landes," pub- 

 lished at St. Petersburgh in I860, I extract the 

 following : — " The Amur specimens of this beautiful 



