ANATINJE. QUERQUEDULA. 
167 
The males have the scapulars, inner secondaries, and tail- 
feathers, more elongated and acuminate than the females, 
from which they also differ in having the colours of the 
plumage more varied. They frequent marshes, lakes, and 
rivers ; feed on vegetable substances, mollusca, insects, 
worms, and other small animals ; walk well, swim with ease, 
seldom dive, fly with great rapidity ; nestle on the ground, 
laying numerous white or whitish eggs ; and are highly 
esteemed as food. 
246. Querquedula Crecca. European Teal. 
Male with the bill an inch and a half long, seven-twelfths 
broad toward the end, black ; a longitudinal ridge of narrow 
decurved feathers on the head and nape; head and upper 
neck chestnut-brown, with a green patch behind the eye, 
margined beneath with black and white ; upper parts and 
sides finely undulated with dusky and white ; scapulars part- 
ly grey, yellowish-white, and black; speculum black exter- 
nally, green internally, edged with black ; tips of secondary 
coverts yellowish-white ; fore-neck and part of breast yel- 
lowish-white, with black spots, the rest of the breast white ; 
abdomen undulated ; under the tail, a black and two cream- 
coloured patches. Female smaller, with the throat white ; 
the upper parts and neck dusky-brown, the feathers edged 
with pale reddish ; breast and abdomen yellowish- white ; 
speculum as in the male. 
Male, 14J, 24, 7i, lj, l T \, Female, 13|, 22. 
This beautiful and active species, the smallest British bird 
of its family, frequents marshy places, the margins of lakes 
and rivers, seldom betaking itself to estuaries, or to the open 
sea-coast, unless in time of frost. Its food consists of seeds 
of grasses, slender roots, insects, mollusca, and worms. In 
winter its numbers are greatly augmented by individuals 
from the continent, and it is generally dispersed, although 
not common in the northern parts of Scotland. Its flesh is 
highly esteemed, and is perhaps superior to that of any other 
British duck. The nest is placed on the ground, and lined 
with down. The eggs, eight or ten, are yellowish-white, an 
inch and three-fourths in length, an inch and a third in 
breadth. 
Common Teal. Green-winged Teal. 
Anas Crecca, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 204.-— Anas Crecca, Lath, 
Ind. Ornith. ii. 872. — Anas Crecca, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. 
