290 
BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 
over the places in which they intend to alight, their wings being alternately 
thrown in the shade and exposed to the bright light, the glowing and varied 
lustre thus produced, at whatever distance they may be, draws your eyes 
involuntarily towards them. When advancing against a stiff breeze, they 
alternately show their upper and lower surfaces, and you are struck by the 
vivid steel-blue of their mantle, which resembles the dancing light of a piece 
of glass suddenly reflected on a distant object. During their flight, they 
almost constantly emit their soft lisping note, which they also utter when 
alighted and under apprehension of danger. I have never observed them 
travelling in company with other Ducks, but have seen them at times pass- 
ing over the sea at a considerable distance from land. Before alighting, and 
almost under any circumstances, and in any locality, these Teals pass and 
repass several times over the place, as if to assure themselves of the absence 
of danger, or, should there be cause of apprehension, to watch until it is 
over. They swim buoyantly, and generally in a close body, at times nearly 
touching each other. Indeed, during their first appearance in autumn, when 
you are apt to meet with a flock entirely composed of young birds, you 
may, by using a little care, kill a considerable number at one shot. I was 
assured by a gunner residing at New Orleans, that as many as one hundred 
and twenty had been killed by himself at a single discharge ; and I myself 
saw a friend of mine kill eighty-four by pulling together the triggers of his 
double-barrelled gun ! 
The Blue-winged Teal is easily kept in captivity, and soon becomes very 
docile. In this state it feeds freely on coarse corn meal, and I have no 
doubt that it could readily be domesticated, in which case, so tender and 
savoury is its flesh, that it would quickly put the merits of the widely cele- 
brated Canvass-backed Duck in the shade. 
In the course of my stay in East Florida, at General Hernandez’s, and 
Mr. Bulow’s, I have observed this Teal in company with the Red-breasted 
Snipe, the Tell-tale Godwit, and the Yellow-shank Snipe. I observed the 
same circumstance in Texas. 
During the time of their residence on the Delaware river, they feed prin- 
cipally on the seeds of the wild oats, which I also found them to do whilst 
at Green Bay. I have been assured by persons residing on the island of 
Cuba, that the Blue-winged Teal is abundant, and breeds there. 
The old males lose the spring plumage of the head almost entirely during 
a great portion of the autumn and winter, but it is reassumed sometimes as 
early as the beginning of January. The young of both sexes in their first 
plumage resemble the females, but the males acquire their full beauty before 
they are a year old. 
