Dec. I, 1900.3 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
425 
§mfi^ §dg mi 0m, 
Notice. 
All communications intended for FosEST and Siream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and 
not to any individual connected with the paper. 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
American Wildfowl and How to 
Take Them.— XII. 
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL. 
[Continued /rom page 405.] 
Green-Winged TeaU 
Anas carolinensis (Gmelin). 
The adult male has the head and neck reddish-chest- 
nut, and a broad band of metallic green on either side, 
running from the eye ts the back of the neck, where 
the two meet in a tuft. The under side of this green 
band is margined with a narrow line of buff; the chin 
is black; the breast is reddish cream color, dotted with 
round or oval spots of jet black. There is a collar 
round the lower part of the neck; the sides t)f the 
breast, back of lower neck, and of the body are finely 
waved with lines of black upon white ground. The back 
is similarly marked, and the lower back is brownish- 
gray. The upper tail-coverts are dark, tnargined with 
white, and the tail feathers gray, edged with white. On 
the side of the breast in front of the bend of the wing 
is a broad white bar. The tips of the last row of wing- 
coverts are margined with yellow. The speculum is 
black and green, margined with white. The outer scap- 
ulars are velveti^ black. The belly and a patch on .either 
side of the under tail-coverts are rich buff, the under 
tail-coverts black. The bill is dark, nearly black, and 
the feet grayish black. The length is about I4;4 inches. 
The female is brownish, the feathers being generally 
GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 
margined with buff. The sides of head are whitish 
speckled with brownish. The wing is like that of the 
male, but the speculum is somewhat smaller and duller. 
The breast is usually more or less spotted, and the 
under parts are white, with faint indications of spots. 
The green-winged teal is found over the wdiole of 
North America, from the Arctic Sea on the north to the 
Gulf of Mexico and Central America on the south. It 
occurs also in Cuba. It is one of the most beautiful of 
our ducks, and is liighly esteemed hy gunners. 
Unlike many of our better known fresh- water ducks, 
the green-winged teal is rather common in New Eng- 
land, as well as in the interior and to the southward, 
and wherever found it is a great favorite. It flies with 
astonishing speed, but with great steadiness, and often 
tlie flecks are of very great size, and fly bunched up, so 
close together that they resemble more a flock of mi- 
grating blackbirds than of ducks. \t such times, if 
tht}'^ suddenly become aware of the presence of the 
gimner, the bunch flies apart like an exploding bomb, 
and the birds dart in all directions and at such a rate 
that it takes a quick shooting to catch them. On the 
. ther hand, it the shots can be fired into this close mass 
ihe havoc created is very great, ten, twenty or thirty 
l.irds sometimes being killed \)y the discharge of two 
liarrels. 
While the green-winged teal is much at home on the 
water and is a good diver in times of danger, it is also 
very much at home on the land, over which it runs 
with considerable speed. 
Although this species breeds chiefly to the north of 
"the United States, its nests have been taken in Wiscon- 
sin, Iowa and on the prairies and in the mountains of 
the West- I have seen it in Montana. Wyoming and 
Colorado, accompanied by young, and I recall one oc- 
casion in North Park. Colo., where I spent a verj^ 
I.lcasant half hour watching an old female and her 
lung they busily fed in the narrow stream near where 
i sat. The mother bird at length discovered me, and 
though not greatly alarmed, she promptly led her flock 
of ei.ght tiny young ashore, where, in a long line, with 
I lie mother at the head, they promptly lj:otted into the 
iiushes and concealed themselves. 
The green-winged is a more hardy bird than the blue- 
winged teal, and is often found on Avarm springs and 
streams in the North long after the ice has closed most 
of the quiet waters. I have seen it in Connecticut in the 
early winter, when almost everything was frozen up. 
The nest of the teal is corninonly placed not far from 
the water, in high grass or sometimes among a tussock 
of rye grass, or I have even found it on top of a dry 
ridge under a sage bush at quite a long di.stance from any 
-tream. The eggs are small and apparently a little 
junder than duck eggs usually are. The number in a 
est varies from ten to fifteen. 
European Teal. 
Anas crecca (Linn.), 
This is a European species, occitrring only casually 
m North America. It very closely resembles the com- 
mon green-winged teal, but lacks the white bar on the 
side of the breast, has the black and white markings of 
the back ?.nd sides much heavier, has the inner webs of 
the outer scapular and sometimes part of the otttcr webs 
white or yellowish, and the forehead bordered on either 
side by a pale-buff line. The female is so similar to 
EUROPEAN TEAL. 
the female green-winged teal that only an expert ornith- 
ologist can distingtiish between the two. The European 
teal is found occasionally in the Aleutian Islands, and it 
has frequently been exposed for sale in the New York- 
markets with other ducks shot jn the neighborhood. 
The most important distinguishing mark between these 
two very similar birds is the white bar on each side of the 
breast, which is so noticeable in our green-winged teal, 
but absent in the European species. 
European observers tell us that this teal is abundant 
over the Old World; that it breeds in Great Britain and 
Ireland and is common over Lapland, Russia and north- 
ern .\sia. It is readily domesticated. 
Blue-Winged Teal. 
Alias discors (Linn.j. 
The adult male has the top of the head and chin black; 
a white crescent-shaped band, edged with black, extends 
from the forehead abo\'e the eye down to below the bill ; 
the rest of the head is dark lead color, sometimes with 
glossy purplish reflections. The long scapulars running 
back from the shoulder are black, streaked with bufl. 
The back and upper parts generally dark brown and dull 
black, spotted, barred and streaked with bttff. The lower 
back is dull brown; the smaller wing coverts at the bend 
of the wing skv blue, as are also some of the long shoulder 
feathers. A wide bar of white across the wing, above the 
speculum, which is green, separates the blue and the green. 
There is a narrow line of white at the cxtremitj' of the 
speculum and a patch on either side of the tail. The 
lower parts are light chestnut, thickly speckled with 
black. The under tail coverts are black, as is also the 
bill. The eyes, legs and feet are yellow, the latter with 
dusky markings. 
The female is always to be known by the blue mark- 
ings, on the wing, though the brilliant green specuhim is 
often wanting. The chin, throat and base of the liill 
are white, marked with blackish, and the head and neck 
streaked and speckled with dusky brown. The other parts 
are dark brown, speckled with dusky brown. The bird 
is slightly larger than the green-winged teal. 
The blue-winged teal is often called summer teal, and 
this gives a hint as to one of its habits. It is apparently 
iL bird of more southern distribution than the other 
BLUE- WINGED TE.AL. 
Icals and is almost the earliest of the migrating ducks 
to make its api)earance. The first to arrive are commonly 
found on our streams in late August or early September, 
and persons who are pushing through the marshes in 
search of rail very frequently start little bunches of blue- 
wings from the open places. It may be imagined that 
such birds have not come from a great distance. Indeed, 
the blue-winged teal breeds at many points in the West, 
and would do so more frequently A'ere the birds permitted 
to make their northward migration without being dis- 
turbed by gunners. 
The bluewing is common throughout eastern America. 
Itut in the West its place is chiefly taken Vty the cinnamon 
teal, a closely related species. In its northward migrations 
the blue-winged teal is found summering on the Great 
Slave Lake, and ?\Ir. Dall tells of having seen it on the 
Yukon, and it has been reported from other points in 
Alaska. It breeds also in northern New- England, as well 
as near the prairie sloughs of some of the States of the 
central West. The nest is placed on the ground among 
reeds and grasses, and is tisually. but not always, near 
the water. It is lined with down from the mother's 
breast, and when she leaves the nest she covers the eggs 
with this down and over it places more or less grass. The 
number of eggs is said to be from eight to twelve. 
During the winter these birds reach Mexico and Central 
America and are commonly found in Florida and the Gulf 
States. They feed in great numbers in the Southern rice 
fields, where they are reported to be caught in great nuin- 
bers by means of traps set by the negroes. Teal are 
abundant in the low country about the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi, where they are knoAvn to the Creoles as printan- 
nierre and autonnierre^, according to the reason in which 
they are seen. 
I'he teal frequently travel in very large flocks, and the 
speed with which they, move and the closeness with which 
they are huddled together have become proverbial among 
gunners. They come up readily to decoys and not in- 
frequentl}' a large flock may come in without warning to a 
heedless gunner and drop dowit among his .stools before 
he sees thent. When he stands up to shoot, the teal leave 
the water as the mallard does, by a single spring, and 
darl away in all directions, coming together again and 
going on in a close bunch. If a flock is seen llying by 
they may sometimes be attracted by a soft, lisping note, 
and if they see the decoys they are likely to drop in among 
them. The blue-winged teal is fond of running about 
over mud flats and sifting them for food, and in localities 
where they are abundant a place sttch as this is one of 
the very best in which to tie out for blue- winged teal. 
As with the greenwing so with this species — great num- 
bers may be killed by the single discharge of a gun, pro- 
vided it is properly aimed. Audubon speaks of having 
seen eighty-four birds killed by the single discharge of a 
double-liarrcl gun. 
That Adirondack Moose. 
One Point of View. 
Editor forest and Stream: 
That moose which a guide killed in the Adirondacks 
the other day is valuable as a commentary. The mere fact 
that one of five great game animals at large was shot, 
especially under the circumstances prevailing, is im- 
portant, of course, but seen in the broader light it is 
vastly more interesting to men who shoot, and particularly 
to men who hunt. The conditions prevailing in the 
.^dirondacks are exactly in line with the death of the 
Saranac Lake bull, and one must imagine himself to be 
an Adirondack guide to realize what this condition is. 
Every train carrying passengers into the Adirondacks 
m the spring and summer seasons bears men who have 
modern rifles in cases, as well as fish rods. These men 
woald claim to be sportsmen, and they are the sportsmen 
known to Adirondack guides. If they can't kill deer, the 
gu}des must, and, of cour.se, do, to save their jobs! It 
is no more to a guide than a commercial proposition. A 
deer is worth so much, and thai moose was worth so 
much. 
One account that I read of the moose gave the names 
of three guides as implicated in the matter. One, at 
least, of these three wears the button of the Adirondack 
Guides' Association, and is one of the ablest men in it. 
When I saw him in early August he was headed for the 
woods, a .,38-55 in his hand. I believe that if he could 
be sure of the support of ten of his fellow members he 
would refuse to furnish venison for his fishermen em- 
ployers. I don't believe there is a guide in the Adiron- 
dack's who has the back bone and the mental caliber com- 
bmed to resist the temptation of $3 a day when an illegal 
deer is the way, and there is not one in a hundred of 
the sportsmen campers who would refuse to eat venison 
if served to h ini. Most of these campers demand veni- 
son, and the members of the Adirondack Guides' Asso- 
ciation, of which there are a few, don't know any bettei: 
than to serve it. 
If those five moose had come here to Northwood and I 
had killed one of them, there is not one chance in five 
hundred that I would have suffered for it. though there 
is not a man in this whole neighborhood who would not 
have heard about it, and probably only a few who would 
not have had a taste of it. I am morallv certain, too. that 
had It been killed here by anv of mv neighbors I would 
have had a bit of it to fry or roast. That is the exact 
condition of affairs from here to Loon Lake and Lake 
Champlain. The game wardens are excellent vote getters. 
Last year and this I tried to have a man who would 
have stopped deer hounding in this whole district put into 
the office which his knowledge, experience and determina- 
tion deserved. Crusters had killed eighteen or .so 
deer withm fifteen miles of Northwood ; the iTierits of deer 
hounds were evenwhere discussed from actual and re- 
cent observation, and the illegal exploits of hunters were 
daily' told. The same old warden is still in office, and by 
sitting on a favorite ruuAvay a short distance from here 
I can get a shot or two within a week at a dog-driven 
deer, ft I did so, after this declaration, I would prob- 
ably be arrested, because I have no political influence at 
my command. 
On the other hand, two men were arrested for hotmding 
a few miles up the West Canada this summer. They 
were promising subjects. A great sport.sman's club was 
behmd the prosecution. There were plenty of reliable 
witnesses, but the sportsman's club was behind the mat- 
ter, and the men were acquitted. The trouble was that 
the sportsman's club has not been entirely just in its 
dealings with the natives of .the country. The lumber 
cam.ps on its land have hunters to furnish fresh meat, and 
these hunters are not troubled by the guides employed to 
guard the game at club expense. The guides in this case 
know better. Between sport.smen's clubs, lumber camps 
and members of guides' associations, Adirondack game 
has to hustle. And yet these two group.s-— the clubs and 
the associations — have the most at stake. 
Just think for a moment what 200 moose in the Adiron- 
dacks would have meant to the guides' associations. From 
what quarter of the world would not hunters have come 
to try their luck and .skill? What kind of money would 
not have found its way into the associations' pockets? This 
argument will appeal very effectively at the next meet- 
ings of the guides when they are all dressed up physically 
and mentally: but let 700 pcmds of meat come in sight 
out in the bush next summer and see what happens. It 
will be interesting to learn what happens to the associa- 
tion members who were in this moose business— who 
wouldn't employ a m.an who could find an Adirondack 
moose anyhow? And is not his opinion w-orth listening 
