534 
LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 
are exceedingly fat. They depart, however, when the weather becomes so cold that 
ice forms. Toward the end of February they again become abundant ; but this time 
they are lean, though in their summer garb, in which the male is very beautiful. 
During their stay they are seen in the bayous and ponds, along the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi, and on the large and muddy sand-bars, feeding on grasses and their seeds, 
particularly in autumn, when they are very fond of the wild pimento. In the spring- 
some remain as late as the 15th of May. 
On the 26tli of April, 1837, in his visit to Texas, Audubon found them on all the 
ponds and salt bayous or inlets of Galveston Island, as well as on the watercourses of 
the interior, where, he was assured, they breed in great numbers. 
The flight of this Duck is extremely rapid, fully as swift as that of the Passenger 
Pigeon. When advancing against a stiff breeze it shows alternately its upper and 
lower surface. During its flight it utters a soft, lisping note, which it also emits when 
apprehensive of danger. It swims buoyantly, and when in a flock so closely together 
that the individuals nearly touch each other. In consequence of this habit hunters 
are able to make a frightful havoc among these birds on their first appearance in 
the fall, when they are easily approached. Audubon has seen as many as eighty-four 
killed by a single discharge of a double-barrelled gun. 
It may readily be kept in confinement, soon becomes very docile, feeds readily on 
coarse corn-meal, and might easily be domesticated. Professor Kumlien, however, 
has made several unsuccessful attempts to raise this Duck by placing its eggs under 
a Domestic Hen. He informs me that this species is the latest Duck to arrive in 
the spring. It is very common, and breeds abundantly in Southern Wisconsin, espe- 
cially on the borders of Lake Koskonong. It nests on the ground among the reeds 
and coarse herbage, generally near the water, but he has met with its nest at least 
half a mile from the nearest water, though always on low land. The nest is simply 
an accumulation of reeds and rushes lined in the middle with down and feathers. 
This Duck prefers the dryer marshes near creeks. He has always found its nests 
well lined with down, and when the female leaves her nest she always covers her 
eggs with clown, and draws the grass, of which the outside of the nest is composed, 
over the top. He does not think that she ever lays more than twelve eggs, the usual 
number being eight to twelve. These are of a clear ivory white, without even the 
slightest tinge of green. They range from 1.80 to 1.95 inches in length, and from 
1.25 to 1.35 in breadth. 
Querquedula cyanoptera. 
THE CINNAMON TEAL. 
Anas cyanoptera, Yieill. Nouv. Diet. V. 1816, 104. 
Querquedula cyanoptera, Cass. U. S. Astr. Exp. II. 1856, 202 (Chili) ; Illustr. B. Cal. Tex. etc. 1855, 
82, pi. 15. — Baird, B. N. Am. 1858, 780 ; Cat. N. Am . B. 1859, no. 582. — Coues, Key, 1872, 
288 ; Check List, 1873, no. 497 ; 2d ed. 1882, no. 717 ; B. N. W. 1874, 567. — Ridgw. Norn. 
N. Am. B. 1881, no. 610. 
Anas Rofflcsi, King, Zool. Jour. IV. 1828, 87 ; Suppl. pi. 29 (Straits of Magellan). 
Pterocyanea cceruleata, “Licht.” Gray, Gen. B. III. 1849, 617. 
Hab. Western America, from the Columbia River to Chili, Buenos Ayres, and Falkland 
Islands. Casual in Eastern North America (Louisiana, Illinois, Florida?) 
Sp. Char. Adult male: Head, neck, and lower parts rich purplish chestnut, duller — some- 
times quite dusky — on the abdomen ; pileum and crissum black ; scapulars and part of the back 
chestnut, marked with U-shaped bars of black, the middle of the back more dusky ; tertials black, 
