ANAS CIBCIA. 
(THE GARGANEY TEAL*.) 
Anas circia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 204 (1766). 
Querquedula circia (Linn.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 305 (1849) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 
Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 269 ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 807 (1864) ; Sharpe & Dresser, 
B. of Eur. pt. 5 (1871) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 479; Salvadori, Uccelli di Borneo, 
p. 361 (1874) ; David & Oust. Ois. de la Chine, p. 502 (1877); Hume, Str. Feath. 
1879, p. 115 (List of Ind. B.). 
La Sarcelle cVete, Buff. pi. 946 ; Marreco, Portuguese ; The Blue-winged Teal ; Summer 
Teal in England. KaraJc aurdalc, lit. “Patch-work Duck,” Turki (Scully). 
Adult male and female. (Ceylon) Wing 7'1 to 7 ‘7 inches. (Denmark) Wing 7‘2 to 7‘5 ; tail 2-5 to 2'9 ; tarsus 
IT to 1-2; middle toe 1-4 to 1-5, claw (straight) 0-36 ; bill to gape 1-8, at front to bend of nail 1-4 to TO. — 
Female (Amoy). Wing 0-8 ; bill at front T4. — Female (Sambhur Lake). Length 15-0; wing 7-4, expanse 25-5 ; 
tail 2-8 ; tarsus 1T5; bill at front 1-5. “Weight 12-75 oz. to 14-78 oz.” ( Scully , Yarkand). 
The bill in this species has the culmen almost straight, the anterior part not being so much depressed as in the larger 
species of the genus. 
Iris pale brown; bill black, the base beneath pale; legs and feet brown; webs darker. 
Male after autumn moult (Leadenhall Market). Eorehead, top of head, and nape blackish brown, bounded on each side 
by a broad white band c-ommenciug in front of the eye, and the forehead marked with fine whitish lines ; face and 
neck brownish chestnut, passing on the chest and breast into light tawny, the aforementioned parts striated 
closely with white, and the latter closely barred with blackish, taking on the chest a crescentic form ; the chin 
black and unmarked, and the lores darker than the face ; lower hind neck, interscapulars, and back blackish brown, 
the feathers with pale margins; the upper tail-coverts marked with zigzag cross bars of White; the scapulars 
lanceolate, the uppermost feathers black, tinged with green, with parallel-edged white central stripes ; the 
outer and broader concolorous with the wing-coverts, which are pale grey-blue ; the greater series with deep 
white tips, forming a band across the wing ; the secondaries -with similar tips, the outer webs above them shining 
emerald-green, and the inner blackish brown ; primaries brown, with white shafts and outer margins, the latter 
vanishing on the two first quills ; tertials dark brown, with white outer margins ; tail dark brown ; abdomen 
finely vermiculated with brown, spotted with the same on the under tail-coverts, and the flank-feathers crossed 
with closely set, wavy pencillings of black ; the lowermost feathers tipped with blue-grey, above which is a broad 
white bar edged with black ; axillaries pure white ; under wing pale browm, darkening at the anterior part, and 
with a white patch across the centre. 
Some examples have the wing-coverts and secondaries less brightly coloured, these probably being younger birds than 
the above; the underparts vary in the amount of vermiculations. 
This dress is worn from October until J une, when a rapid moult takes place, and the male assumes a garb very similar 
to that of the female, except that the wing-coverts and speculum (as, in fact, the entire w-ing) are as before. The 
plumage is, however, darker above than that of the female, and the chest is more rufous. In October, or as late 
as December even, the clothing-feathers are moulted, and the handsome winter and spring dress again assumed. 
So rapid is the moult in each case that the birds are incapacitated from flying. 
Female (Sambhur Lake, August). Head, lower hind neck, back, rump, and scapulars dark brown, the feathers every- 
where pale-tipped ; tawny grey on the head and hind neck, slaty grey on the interscapular region, rump, and 
The Teals, which are placed under the genus Querquedula, Stephens, by most authors, are merely small Ducks, 
scarcely differing at all from restricted Anas, although the bills are not so wide at the tip nor so flattened at that part. 
1 he type of the group is the Garganey, w'hich has the bill high at the base, with the culmen almost straight, and, in fact, 
the whole organ differing almost as much from that of the Common Teal as it does from that of the Mallard; the bill 
is therefore not a good distinguishing character, and I prefer not to adopt the genus in the present instance. 
