284 
AMERICAN GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 
before the general departure of the flocks, a cause of detention more com- 
mon in migratory birds than people seem to be aware of. These oppor- 
tunities, few as they were, have enabled me to see the kinds of places in 
which the nests were found, the structure of the nest, the number, size, and 
colour of the eggs ; so that I have in so far been qualified to draw a com 
parison between our Green-winged Teal and that of Europe. 
The Green-wings leave the neighbourhood of New Orleans in the end of 
February; but in the Carolinas they remain until late in March, at which 
time also they depart from all the places between the Atlantic and the States 
of Kentucky, Indiana, &c. Farther eastward I have seen this species as 
late as the 9th of May, when I shot a few not far from Philadelphia. As 
you advance farther along oui*coast, you find it more rare; and scarcely any 
are met with near the shores of the British provinces. In Newfoundland 
and Labrador, it is never seen. Its migrations southward, I am satisfied, 
extend beyond the United States; but their extreme limits are unknown to 
me. I have seldom seen it associate with other species, although I have 
frequently observed individuals on a pond or river not far from other Ducks. 
It is more shy than the Blue-winged Teal, but less so than most of our other 
fresh-water Ducks. Its voice is seldom heard during winter, except when a 
flock is passing over another that has alighted, when a few of the males call 
to the voyagers, as if to invite them to join them. Before they depart, 
however, they become noisy. Combats take place among the males ; the 
females are seen coquetting around them, and most of the birds are paired 
before they leave us. 
In the few instances in which I found the nest of this bird, and they were 
only three, it was not placed nearer the water than five or six yards, and I 
should not have discovered it had I not first seen the birds swimming or 
washing themselves near the spot. By watching them carefully I discovered 
their landing places, and on going up found a path formed, in a direct line 
among the rushes. In two cases I came so near the nest, as almost to touch 
the sitting bird as it rose affrighted. While it flew round me, and then 
alighted on the water, I viewed the nest, with perhaps more interest than I 
have felt on most occasions of a like nature. On a scanty bed of the bird’s 
own down and feathers, supported by another of grasses, intermixed with 
mud and stalks of the plants around, raised to the height of four or five 
inches, I found seven eggs in one, nine in another, and only five in a third. 
They were all found in the month of July, and not far from Green Bay. 
The average measurement of the eggs was an inch and three quarters by an 
inch and three-eighths. They were much rounded, of a dull yellowish 
colour, indistinctly marked with a deeper tint, as if soiled. In one of the 
nests only the eggs were fresh. I took two of them, which I afterwards 
