GREEN- WINGED TEAL. 
447 
QUERQUEDULA CAEOLINEHSIS. 
Green-winged. Teal. 
Querquedula Carolinensis Steph., Shaw’s Zool., XII, 1824, 148. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cn. Form, slender. Size, small. Color. Adult male. Head and neck, chestnut-red, dusky on forehead, with 
line back of eye, green showing violet reflections. Upper portions and sides, brown, finely banded on all but wings, with 
white. Crescent-shaped mark in front of wings, and tips of greater coverts, white, the latter tinged with reddish. Back 
of head, band on flanks, line on scapularies, and under portion of speculum, black, remainder of latter, green, followed pos¬ 
teriorly with a narrow band of white. Chin, black. Ring around neck white, finely banded with black. Remainder of un¬ 
der portions, white, becoming creamy on under tail coverts which have a central black line, finely banded with brown on 
abdomen, and becoming purplish on breast which is marked with round spots of brown. Iris, bill, and feet, brown. 
Adult female. Dark-brown above, with the feathers edged with whitish. White beneath, with obscure brown spots 
on breast. Otherwise similar to male. Young. Similar to female, and males occur in all stages between this and adult. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known in all stages by the small size and black and white speculum. Distributed, in summer, from Maine, 
northward; wintering in the South. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of specimens from North America. Length, 13'75; stretch, 22'25; wing, 6• 65; tail, 2’65; bill, 
160; tarsus, 1‘ 10. Longest specimen, 15‘01»; greatest extent of wing,24'50; longest wing, 6 - 80; tail, 2 80; bill, L70; tarsus, 
1*20. Shortest specimen, 12 50; smallest extent of wing, 20'00; shortest wing, 6 50; tail, 2 50; bill, 1'50; tarsus, TOO. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed on the ground in marshy places, composed of grass, weeds, etc. Eggs, from six to ten in number, ellip¬ 
tical in form, and pale brownish-buff in color. Dimensions from l'25x l - 85 to 1‘30x 1*90. 
HABITS. 
The Teal last mentioned, as related, haunts the fresh waters of the interior, whereas 
the present species,-although not uncommon on ponds and rivers, appears to prefer the salt 
water, resorting to the mouths of narrow creeks in which the tide rises and falls. On the 
southern side of Amherst Island, one of the Magdalen group, are several salt water ponds 
which were formally lagoons, but which the shifting sand of the beaches have cut off from 
the water of the gulf. These miniature lakes are surrounded by a thick growth of trees, 
composed mainly of spruce and hemlock, which have been so dwarfed by the severe climate, 
that they rarely attain the'height of ten feet. I was making my way along the border of 
one of these ponds, on the sixteenth of June, in company with my friend, Mr. Gilman 
Brown, when a female Green-winged Teal rose within a yard of our feet; and stepping for¬ 
ward, we discovered a nest containing eight greenish eggs which were placed in a depres¬ 
sion of the sandy soil On a few twigs, and surrounded with a ring of gray down, thus pre¬ 
senting a very pretty appearance. The spot was concealed by the overhanging branches 
of a little spruce, and had the bird remained quiet, we should have passed without discov¬ 
ering her treasures. The female was quite shy, and after circling about a few times dis¬ 
appeared. The eggs were in an advanced state of incubation and would have been hatehed 
in a short time. The Green-wings migrate through New England a little later than the 
preceding species. 
GENUS IX. SPATULA. THE SPOON-BILLED DUCKS. 
Gen. Ch. Bill, much longer than head, narrow at base lut not high, and much widened and flattened at tip. Lamella 
of upper mandible, fine and greatly lengthened. Marginal indentations, open. 
The trachea is straight, without dilatation, and the larynx of the male is expanded and provided with a bony frame¬ 
work. The stomach is muscular. Sexes, not similar. There is but one species within our limits. 
