BLUE-WINGED THAL IN NORTH ICELAND. 339 
Teal which made mention of this very conspicuous white bar 
across the wings, and up to 1904 I had never seen a female of 
this bird. 
The matter rested in this unsatisfactory state until 1904, 
when I went on a collecting expedition—a very successful one— 
to the Cariboo district of Central British Columbia, where I 
found various surface-feeding and diving ducks breeding in 
abundance. 
With the first specimen of a female Q. discors I procured I 
at once recognized the Teal with one broad white bar across the 
wings which before had been such a puzzle to me. I found 
also that the young males and immature females have a broader 
white bar across the wings than the adult female. I brought an 
interesting series of skins back with me. 
Grondal, in his list of the Birds of Iceland, includes Garganey 
Teal (Querquedula circia), on the strength of an adult male shot 
on June 16th, 1860, in the same district where I saw the Blue- 
winged Teal. Many British ornithologists have expressed doubts 
that such a southern species should have wandered so far north 
as the Arctic Circle for breeding, and I now have little hesitation 
in suggesting that a mistake in identification has been made, 
and the supposed Garganey Teal was an adult male Blue-winged 
Teal; a mistake very easy to make, and one which has more 
than once been made here. 
Icelanders have but a poor stock of books for reference, and 
practically no specimens for comparison, and although they 
possess a good knowledge of their country’s birds, they cannot 
be expected to discriminate closely allied forms. In the case of 
the American Wigeon they had noticed the difference in the 
coloration of the head of the males, but thought it was merely 
a variation, and quite failed to discriminate between the females, 
although the difference is striking enough to those who know 
what to look for. I do not suppose that the Blue-winged Teal 
is a regular breeder in Iceland, but, like the American Wigeon, 
only a casual visitor for breeding. 
When in Iceland I was much impressed by the appearance 
of some of the females of what I thought were Common Teal as 
they flew past me, and since my experiences in Central British 
Columbia I now strongly suspect that future investigation may 
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