BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 291 



Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors, Wils. Amer. Orn.. vol. viii. p. 74. 



Anas discors, Bonap. Syn., p. 385. 



Anas discors, Blue-winged Teal, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 444. 



Blue-winged Teal, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 397. 



Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iv. p. 111. 



Male, 16, 3 H. Female, 15, 24. 



Breeds in Texas and westward. Great Lakes. Fur Countries. Colum- 

 bia river. Very abundant in autumn and spring in the Middle Atlantic Dis- 

 tricts, as well as in the interior. Abundant also in all the Southern States. 



Adult Male. 



Bill almost as long as the head, deeper than broad at the base, depressed 

 towards the end, its breadth nearly equal in its whole length, being however 

 a little enlarged towards the rounded tip. Upper mandible with the dorsal 

 line at first sloping, then nearly straight, on the unguis decurved, the ridge 

 broad and fiat at the base, suddenly narrowed over the nostrils, broader and 

 convex towards the end; the sides erect at the base, afterwards sloping and 

 convex; the narrow membranous margins a little broader towards the end. 

 Nostrils sub-basal, near the ridge, rather small, elliptical, pervious. Lower 

 mandible flattened, straight, with the angle very long and rather narrow, the 

 dorsal line very short, and slightly convex, the sides internally erect, with 

 about a hundred and twenty lamellae. 



Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck of moderate length, 

 rather slender. Body full, depressed. Feet short, placed rather far back; 

 tarsus short, compressed, at its lower part anteriorly with two series of scu- 

 tella, the rest covered with reticulated angular scales. Toes with numerous 

 scutella above; first toe very small and with a narrow membrane beneath; 

 third longest, fourth about a quarter of an inch shorter; the anterior toes 

 united by reticulated webs, of which the outer is deeply sinuate; claws small, 

 curved, compressed, acute, the hind one smaller and more curved, that of the 

 third toe largest, and with the inner margin sharp. 



Plumage dense, soft, and blended. Feathers of the head and neck very 

 small and slender, of the back and lower parts in general broad and rounded. 

 Wings of moderate length, rather narrow and acute; primaries strong, slight- 

 ly curved, tapering, the first scarcely longer than the second, the rest rapidly 

 decreasing; secondaries broad, the outer obliquely rounded, the inner elon- 

 gated and acuminate, as are the scapulars. Tail short, rounded and acumi- 

 nate, of fourteen rather narrow, acuminate feathers. 



Bill bluish-black. Iris dark hazel. Feet dull yellow, webs dusky, claws 

 brownish-black, with the tips greyish-yellow. Upper part of the head black; 

 a semilunar patch of pure white on the side of the head before the eye, mar- 

 gined before and behind with black. The rest of the head, and the anterior 



