THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage. — Very similar to the adult female, but 
easily distinguished by the rich green speculum and brighter grey -blue 
wing-coverts. 
Adult female. — ^Upperparts dark brown, the feathers with pale edges ; 
sides of the head and neck nearly white, minutely streaked and spotted 
with blackish, the markings being most dense behind the eye, where 
they form a dusky stripe; lores, chin and throat white; underparts 
white with dusky blackish -brown middles to the feathers, giving these 
parts a heavily mottled appearance; under tail -coverts white spotted 
with brownish; lesser and median wing-coverts pale greyish -blue; 
greater secondary -coverts brownish with white tips; outer secondaries 
slightly glossed with greenish, forming an indistinct speculum; inner 
under wing-coverts and axillaries pure white. Total length about 14*5 
inches; bill 15 inch; wing 7 1 inches; tail 2*6 inches; tarsus 1*2 inch. 
General distribution. — ^This species is a native of North America, south 
of about 60° N. latitude, and is met with chiefly east of the Rocky 
Mountains. It breeds from Labrador and the Valley of the Saskatchewan 
southwards in suitable localities to Florida and Western Mexico, wintering 
in the Southern States, Central America, the West Indies, and extending 
to North-western South America, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. 
Distribution in the British Isles. — To the British Isles the American 
blue -winged teal is a very rare wanderer, and three female examples 
only have been obtained, in Dumfries, Cheshire and co. Cork respectively. 
Its mode of nesting, and pale cream-coloured eggs, measuring about 
1 8 by 1 *3 inches, and likewise its habits, do not seem to differ much 
from those of its allies. 
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