282 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
Eange in Great Britain. — In the winter of i S3 7-38, Mr. Bartlett 
secured a specimen of the American Wigoon from a market in 
London. He preserved the bird, which afterwards passed into 
the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney. In these days of freezing- 
chambers on board ship, the presence of a foreign Duck in 
an English market would be absolutely worthless as evidence of 
the occurrence of the species within the British area, but sixty 
years ago the modes of transit were not so easy, and the appear- 
ance of an American Wigeon among a lot of English Wigeon 
may be taken as sound evidence that the specimen had been 
procured within British limits. The few other records of the 
occurrence of the species in Great Britain all appear to be un- 
trustworthy, though its capture once in France and again in 
the Azores is authentic. 
Eange outside the British Islands.— The American Wigeon 
breeds in the arctic portion of North America, occasionally as 
far south as the Northern United States. In winter it e.xtends 
to the Southern States, Mexico, and the West Indies. 
Hahits. — Similar to those of M. pcnelope. 
Nest. — Like that of M. pendope. 
Eggs. — Pale buff. Axis, 2'o6 inches; diam., lUj-S i^Ridgway). 
THE TEAL. GENUS NETTION. 
Nettion, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 95 (1829). 
Type, N. crecca (L.). 
Though resembling the Wigeon in the character of the bill, 
which has the lamelhe of the upper mandible scarcely at all 
prominent, the Teal differ in having the bill moderate, and 
graduated towards the tip, where it becomes more rounded and 
broader than in the species of Mareca ; the scapulars and inner 
secondaries are longer and narrower than in that genus, and 
the coloration of the two sexes is distinctly different. 
Fifteen species are recognised by Count Salvadori, and the 
range of the genus is cosmopolitan. 
