The Green-winged Teal 



No. 350 



Green-winged Teal 



A. O. U. No. 139. Nettion carolinense (Gmelin). 



Synonyms. — American Green-winged Teal. Green-wing. 



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

 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 vermicu- 

 lations; fore-neck and breast brownish buff, 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 olivaceous or ochraceous tinge; speculum shining green, 

 velvety purplish black on outer feathers, bounded in front by chestnut or fawn tips of 

 greater coverts, behind narrowly by white, and on inner margin by abrupt black of 

 outer tertiary; 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; upperparts brownish dusky, tinged with greenish and 

 edged with lighter; head and neck dusky brown, streaked with ochraceous above, 

 elsewhere pale buffy, speckled with dusky; breast and sides brownish 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 317. 5-381 (12.50-15.00); av. of six males: 

 wing 179.8 (7.08); tail 66.8 (2.63); bill 37.6 (1.48); tarsus 30.2 (1.19). 



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

 black and shining green speculum, with size, distinctive. 



Nesting. — Nest: On the ground, of weeds and grasses, lined with feathers 

 and down. Eggs: 6 to 8, rarely 10 to 12; dull creamy white, pale grayish yellow, or 

 greenish buff. Av. size 45 x 32.3 (1.77 x 1.27). Season: c. June 1st; one brood. 



General Range. — North America. Breeds from the western Arctic coast, 

 central Keewatin, and Newfoundland, south through the eastern Canadian Provinces 

 to northern Illinois, Nebraska, northern New Mexico, and southern California. Win- 

 ters from the Aleutian Islands and across the continent from the southern edge of the 

 ice-line south to the West Indies, Honduras, and Lower California. Accidental in the 

 British Isles, Bermuda, Greenland, and Hawaii. 



Distribution in California. — Common during migrations and in winter, 

 chiefly upon fresh water. Breeds very sparingly and locally. Recorded as a breeder 

 from Ventura County (Evermann), Kings County (Tulare Lake, Goldman), Alameda 

 County (Alvarado, Dirks), and Plumas County (Sierra Valley, Belding). Also Davis 

 Creek, Modoc County, June, 1912. 



Authorities. — Gambel (Querquedula carolinense), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 

 ser. 2, i., 1849, p. 226 (Calif.) ; Evermann, Auk, vol. iii., 1886, p. 89 (Ventura Co., nest- 

 ing); Goldman, Condor, vol. x., 1908, p. 129 (Tulare Lake, nesting). 



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