SLENDER OR GREY TEAL. 
Adult male. Back and scapulars oKve-brown with huffy-white edgings to the feathers ; 
the rump darker and more uniform ; lesser and median wing-coverts uniform 
ohve-brown hke the bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills, the latter darker 
at the tips ; outer greater wing-coverts above broadly tipped with white, becoming 
white on the inner ones ; wing speculum composed of velvety black and dark 
metaUic blue-green, bordered by a broad band of white on one side and a narrow 
one on the other ; tail-feathers ohve-brown with pale edges ; head dark brown 
minutely speckled with white ; sides of face and sides of neck whitish minutely 
speckled with brown ; chin and throat uniform white ; breast ochreous-bufif 
with circular bars of brown ; sides of body ohve-brown with' whitish margins to 
the feathers ; abdomen pale brown with an ochreous tinge, as also the under 
tail-coverts ; axillaries pure white ; under wing-coverts dark brown, the median 
series tipped with white, the greater series ohve-grey hke the quill-hning. BiU : 
upper mandible leaden blue, nail black ; lower mandible leaden brown with a 
yellowish-white bar near the tip ; iris reddish-brown ; tarsi and feet leaden brown. 
Total length 460 mm. ; culmen 41, wing 206, tail 85, tarsus 36. 
Adult feinale. Similar to the adult male. 
Nest. Placed in a hole in a tree. 
Eggs. Clutch, five to twelve ; ground-colour creamy ; surface smooth and shghtly glossy. 
Axis 50 mm. ; diameter 35-36. (Taken on the coast near Rockhampton, Queensland). 
Breeding-season. Practically aU the year round, after any rain. 
As stated in connection with the preceding species the references are 
too confused to admit of accurate separation. The present bird was 
generally accepted to represent the female of the preceding, and the 
differences between the two are not yet well known. I shall discuss the 
exact relationships further on, and here reproduce the field notes written 
as for the present species. 
Mr. Tom Carter writes : “ This is one of the commonest ducks in 
the Mid-west, mostly breeding in hollow spouts of White Gum trees. 
I have examined scores of nests with eggs in such situations, and shot 
specimens feeding in the adjacent water, which were of both sexes, and 
undoubtedly breeding, but I never saw one with the green head and 
neck of castaneum. Although on different occasions in the sixteen years 
spent in the Mid-west I have seen many thousands of grey tesli on 
flooded claypans, river pools and swamps of fresh water, I never saw 
one with a green neck. The birds appear to lay after any heavy rains, no 
matter what the month is. In the South-west the grey teal is still 
a fresh water bird. Every year one or more broods of young are reared 
in the paddock where my house ‘ Wensleydale ’ is situated. The parent 
birds bring the young to a large stock tank near the house, and being 
very tame can be well observed. I have not seen a teal with green neck 
here, although many times the parent birds accompanied the young. They 
seem to be later breeders than Anas superciliosa, as Oct. 9, 1908, a pair 
brought eight young in down to the tank. Oct. 23, 1908. Noted four 
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