30 
ORNITHOLOGY. 
Charadrius melodus. Ord. — Pr. of Musignano, Syn. p. 296. sp. 217. 
Charadrius hiaticula. Wils., Am. Orn. vol. 5. p. 30. pi. 37./. 3. 
Two specimens of this species, killed at San Francisco, November, 1826, accord accurately with 
Wilson’s figure; and exhibit those decisive marks of difference between the American and European 
species, which are so clearly pointed out by the Prince of Musignano, in his “ Observations on the 
Nomenclature of Wilson’s Ornithology” (sp. 223). 
Order V. NATATORES. 
Fam. ANATIDjE. 
Anas boschas. Linn., Syst. Nat. vol. 1. p. 205. sp. 40. — Wils., Am. Orn. vol. 8, 
p. 120. pi. 71. /. 1. — Pr. of Musignano, Syn. sp. 323. — Penn., Arct. 
Zool. vol. 2. p. 563. sp. 494. 
Canard sauvage. PI. Enl. 776, 777. 
Anas SPONSA. Linn., Syst. Nat. vol. 1. p. 207. sp. 43. — Wils., Am. Orn. vol. 8. 
p. 97. pi. 78. f. 3. — Pr. of Musignano, Syn. sp. 328. 
Summer Duck. Edw. t. 101. — Penn., Arct. Zool. vol. 2. p. 562. sp. 493. 
Le beau Canard huppe de la Caroline. PI. Enl. 980, 981. 
Anas Carolinensis. Gmel., Syst. Nat. vol. 1. p. 533. sp. 103. 
Anas Crecca. Wils., Am. Orn. vol. 8. p. 101. pi. 70. /. 4. — Pr. of Musignano, 
Syn. sp. 330. 
American Teal. Penn., Arct. Zool. vol. 2. p. 569. sp. 504. 
PLATE XIII. 
The American Teal is generally considered by later naturalists as identical with the European 
species. 1 do not wish to set my own judgment on this point in opposition to that of so many writers, 
some of whom had the opportunity of observing the birds in their native country, but more particularly 
to that of the Prince of Musignano, who has had the amplest means of comparing the specimens of 
both continents. I can only state the grounds upon which I venture to retain to the birds in Capt. 
Beechey’s collection the distinct title assigned them by Pennant and Gmelin. 
There are several specimens in the collection brought home by the Blossom, and several also in 
the collection of the Zoological Society, which have been presented by the Hudson’s Bay Company, all 
the adult males of which uniformly agree in the following characters, as distinguished from those of the 
European bird. The green band that passes from the eye to the nape is more narrow, and has no 
white stripe above, while the white stripe below is nearly obsolete; the undulating black and white 
lines that cross the back and sides are less finely pencilled than in the European species ; the fascia on 
the wings, formed by the tips of the primary wing-coverts is nearly ferruginous throughout, while in 
Anas crecca it is white, with a scarcely perceptible tinge of ferruginous; the scapulars are marked like the 
back, without any mixture of those black or white blotches with a ferruginous tinge, found in the birds 
of our continent ; and on the sides of the breast, near the shoulders, is a strongly marked lunulated 
white fascia, that never belongs to the allied species. 
