BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 
289 
very fond of the wild pimento. Many remain as late as the 15th of May, 
in company with the Shoveller and Gadwall Ducks, with which they are 
usually fond of associating. 
On my reaching the south-western pass of the Mississippi, on the 1st of 
April, 1837, 1 found these birds very abundant there, in full plumage, and 
in flocks of various sizes. On the 11th of the same month, when about a 
hundred miles to the westward, we saw large and dense flocks flying in the 
same direction. On the 15th, at Derniere Isle, the Blue-wings were very 
plentiful and gentle. Two days after, they were quite as numerous round 
Babbit Island, in the bay called Cote Blanche; and on the 26th they were 
found on all the ponds and salt bayous or inlets of Galveston Island in Texas, 
as well as on the water-courses of the interior, where I was assured that they 
bred in great numbers. Though on account of the nature of the localities in 
which these Teals breed, and which cannot be explored otherwise than in 
extremely light canoes, or by risking being engulfed in oozy morasses 
covered with tall grass, we were not so fortunate as to find any of their 
nests, we could easily judge by their manoeuvres both while on wing and on 
the water, that we were not far from their well-concealed treasures, and the 
females which we procured unequivocally exhibited the state of exhaustion 
common in the course of incubation. 
During the months of September and October, this species is plentiful on 
the Ohio, and in the whole of the Western Country, through which they 
pass again in April, but without tarrying. On the other hand, they seem to 
prolong their stay at this season in our Eastern Districts more than in 
autumn ; and this is also the case in South Carolina, as I learn from the 
observations of my friend John Bachman, who has seen them mated there 
as early as February. I have found them in the Boston markets on the 8th 
of September, but it is very rare to sec any of them there in full spring 
dress. I saw or heard of none when I was in Labrador and Newfoundland; 
from which it may be inferred that those found in the Fur Countries reach 
them through the interior. They also occur on the Columbia river. On 
the 21st of March, 1821, I saw many Blue-winged Teals copulating on 
the Mississippi, a little below Natchez ; yet none of these birds have been 
known to breed in that section of the country. They were at the time 
mentioned on a sand-bar in company with some American Widgeons, which 
also were similarly employed. 
The flight of the Blue-winged Teal is extremely rapid and well sustained. 
Indeed, I have thought that, when travelling, it passes through the air with 
a speed equal to that of the Passenger Pigeon. When flying in flocks in 
clear sunny weather, the blue of their wings glistens like polished steel, so 
as to give them the most lively appearance ; and while they are wheeling 
Vol. Yl. 40 
