THE COMMON TEAL. 
285 
Genus QUEEQUEDULA, Steph. 
646. QUEEQUEDULA CRECCA. 
THE COMMON TEAL. 
Anas crecca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 204; Bl. B. Burm. p. 166; Legye, Birds Ceylon, 
p. 1083. Querquedula crecca, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 806; Dresser, Birds Eur. 
vi. p. 507, pi. ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 193 ; David et Oust. Ois, Chine., p. 502 ; 
Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 700; Hume ^ Dav. 8. F. vi. p. 489 ; Hume, S. F. viii. 
p. 115 ; Sctdly, S. F. viii. p. 363 ; Htime 8f Marsh. Game Birds, iii. p. 205 ; Gates, 
S. F. X. p. 245. 
Description. — Male. Forehead, crown, a band continued down the hind 
neck, the space between the bill and the eye, cheeks, sides and front of 
neck chestnut ; chin black ; a broad band from the eye running down the 
sides of the nape and upper neck glossy green, bounded by a narrow white 
line below ; a patch of blue at the back of the neck ; upper plumage nar- 
rowly cross-barred with black and white ; upper tail-coverts blackish, each 
feather edged with fulvous ; some of the outer scapulars creamy white, 
diagonally edged with black ; wing-coverts and quills greyish brown, the 
tips of the outer median coverts creamy white forming a large patch ; 
speculum brilliant green in the middle, black on both sides ; fore neck 
below the chestnut barred with black and white like the back ; breast creamy 
white spotted with black, most of the spots partially concealed ; abdomen 
white ; sides of the body beautifully barred with black and white ; under 
tail-coverts black in the centre, buflP at the sides. 
The female is a dull bird, the whole upper plumage and breast being 
brown, each feather margined with fulvous or yellowish white ; she retains 
the speculum of the male in a reduced form, and may always be recog- 
nized by it ; the green, black, and white forming the speculum are less 
in extent but as deeply coloured as in the male. 
Iris brown ; bill dark brown ; legs and feet greyish brown ; claws dark 
horn-colour. In the young the posterior half of the margins of the upper 
mandible is orange spotted with black, and the lower mandible is dusky 
orange-grey. 
Length 14 inches, tail 3, wing 7*5, tarsus 1'2, bill from gape 1*7. The 
female is a trifle smaller than the male. 
The Common Teal is a tolerably numerous winter visitor to Arrakan and 
Pegu, and in some parts of the latter is very abundant. Mr. Davison did 
not meet with it in Tenasserim, except in the plains between the Sittang 
and the Salween rivers. 
It occurs, according to season, in nearly every part of Asia, Europe, North 
Africa, and on the eastern shores of North America. The most easterly 
