184 WILD FOWL OF INDIA. 



abdomen white, the flanks with transverse wavy lines of black ; 

 vent and under tail-coverts yellowish-white, spotted with black. 



Bill blackish-brown ; irides hazel ; legs dusky. Length 15J-16 

 inches ; wing 8 ; tail nearly 3 ; bill at front If ; tarsus 1J ; mid- 

 toe not quite If. 



The female has the head, neck, and upper parts, dusky-brown, 

 the feathers, with whitish edges ; the eye streak faint ; wing- 

 coverts dark ash-grey ; speculum dull, the green tinge almost 

 wanting ; the chin and throat white ; the lower part of the breast 

 and belly white, spotted with brown on the flanks and lower 

 abdomen. 



The Blue-winged or Garganey Teal is, perhaps, still more abun- 

 dant in India, than the common Teal, but is somewhat later in its 

 arrival here. It occurs in vast flocks, feeding at night chiefly, 

 and has a swift flight. Like the last, numbers are caught and 

 fed throughout the summer in our Tealeries, and both this and the 

 last are most excellent food. The Garganey Teal does not extend 

 to America, but is distributed over the greater portion of the 

 Old Continent. 



I have once or twice procured birds with the whole head, neck, 

 and under parts, deep ferruginous, but I consider this to be an 

 individual variation. 



Vast quantities of this and the previous species are annually 

 caught alive, some by large flap-nets, others by nooses fixed to a 

 long line across a jheel ; and in some places, by a man wading 

 with his head above water concealed in a large earthen chatty, 

 several of which have previously been set afloat. 



The next species has been separated by Bonaparte as Eunetta, 

 but it only differs in its mode of coloration. 



23. Querquedula glocitans, Pallas. 



Anas apud Pallas — Blyth, Cat. 1779 — A. picta, Steller 

 — A. formosa, Georgi — A. baikal, Bonnaterre. 



The Clucking Teal. 



Descr. — Male, forehead, top of the head, and occiput, rich 

 purple-brown, bounded by a narrow white line from the eye ; 



