444 



NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



and green, with whitish edges. Speculum half velvet-black, half vivid grass-green, bordered 

 above and below with brownish-white, and posteriorly on the tertiaries and scapulars with 

 black. Breast wood-brown, with round black spots ; a crescentic band on the shoulder ; 

 belly and lateral under tail coverts white, middle ones black. Bill bluish-black. Irides 

 yellow. Feet bluish-grey, mixed with red. 



Form. — Bill scarcely as long as the head, narrower, but otherwise nearly of the same form 

 with that of A . Boschas ; the lamince of the lower mandible differ, however, in being very 

 fine, little raised, and twice as numerous as the upper ones. Plumage of the nape and back 

 of the neck still more lengthened than in the Mallard. JVings about an inch shorter than 

 the tail, which consists of sixteen feathers. Tracheal dilatation an osseous capsule, capable 

 of holding a pea. 



The female wants the crest, the chestnut and green colours of the head, the velvet-black 

 stripes on the scapulars, the black under tail coverts, the round spots on the breast, and all 

 the fine undulated markings on the base of the neck, flanks, &c. The wings are nearly as 

 in the male ; the speculum, however, is less vivid, with the black more inclined to brown. 

 The upper plumage, breast, and flanks, liver-brown, with pale margins. Head and neck the 

 same, in smaller specks. Chin and belly white, the latter obscurely marked with brown. 



Dimensions 



Of the male. 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



Length, total . . 15 Length of bill above . 1 5 Length of middle toe 



„ of tail . .26 „ of bill to rictus .1 8 ,, of its nail 



„ of folded wing . 7 „ of tarsus . .1 2 Envergure '. 



— R. 



Inch. 



Lin, 



1 



4 



. 



3 



24 







[202.] 6. Anas (Boschas) discors. (Swains.) Blue-winged Teal. 



Genus, Anas. Sub-genus, Boschas, Antiq. Swains. 

 White-faced Teal. Penn. Arct. Zool., ii., p. 568, No. 503. 

 Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors). Wils., viii., p. 74, pi. 68, f. 4. 

 Anas discors. Sab. Frankl. Journ., p. 701. Bonap. Syn., No. 329. 

 Cheesteh-qua-nan-weeshep (Shoe-string Duck.) Cree Indians. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan, June, 1827- 



Colour. — Upper surface of the head and under tail coverts brownish-black ; a broad white 

 crescent from the forehead to the chin, bordered all round with black ; sides of the head and 

 adjoining half of the neck bright lavender-purple ; base of the neck above, back, tertiaries, 

 and tail coverts, brownish and blackish-green, the fore parts, including the shorter scapulars, 

 margined and marked with semi- ovate pale brown bars ; longer scapulars longitudinally 

 striped with blackish-green, berlin-blue, and pale brown. Lesser wing coverts pure berlin- 

 blue ; greater coverts white, their bases brown ; speculum dark green ; primaries, their 



