BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 289 



very fond of the wild pimento. Many remain as late as the 15th of May, 

 in company with the Shoveller and Gadwall Ducks, with which they are 

 usually fond of associating. 



On my reaching the south-western pass of the Mississippi, on the 1st of 

 April, 1S37, I found these birds very abundant there, in full plumage, and 

 in flocks of various sizes. On the 11th of the same month, when about a 

 hundred miles to the westward, we saw large and dense flocks flying in the 

 same direction. On the 15th, at Derniere Isle, the Blue-wings were very 

 plentiful and gentle. Two days after, they were quite as numerous round 

 Rabbit Island, in the bay called Cote Blanche; and on the 26th they were 

 found on all the ponds and salt bayous or inlets of Galveston Island in Texas, 

 as well as on the water-courses of the interior, where I was assured that they 

 bred in great numbers. Though on account of the nature of the localities in 

 which these Teals breed, and which cannot be explored otherwise than in 

 extremely light canoes, or by risking being engulfed in oozy morasses 

 covered with tall grass, we were not so fortunate as to find any of their 

 nests, we could easily judge by their manoeuvres both while on wing and on 

 the water, that we were not far from their well-concealed treasures, and the 

 females which we procured unequivocally exhibited the state of exhaustion 

 common in the course of incubation. 



During the months of September and October, this species is plentiful on 

 the Ohio, and in the whole of the Western Country, through which they 

 pass again in April, but without tarrying. On the other hand, they seem to 

 prolong their stay at this season in our Eastern Districts more than in 

 autumn; and this is also the case in South Carolina, as I learn from the 

 observations of my friend John Bachman, who has seen them mated there 

 as early as February. I have found them in the Boston markets on the 8th 

 of September, but it is very rare to see any of them there in full spring 

 dress. I saw or heard of none when I was in Labrador and Newfoundland; 

 from which it may be inferred that those found in the Fur Countries reach 

 them through the interior. They also occur on the Columbia river. On the 

 21st of March, 1821, I saw many Blue-winged Teals copulating on the Mis- 

 sissippi, a little below Natchez; yet none of these birds have been known to 

 breed in that section of the country. They were at the time mentioned on 

 a sand-bar in company with some American Widgeons, which also were 

 similarly employed. 



The flight of the Blue-winged Teal is extremely rapid and well sustained. 

 Indeed, I have thought that, when travelling, it passes through the air with 

 a speed equal to that of the Passenger Pigeon. When flying in flocks in 

 clear sunny weather, the blue of their wings glistens like polished steel, so 

 as to give them the most lively appearance; and while they are wheeling 



Vol. VI. 40 



