51 
DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 
divers are below, and as their heads appear above the surface snatch 
their catch and hurry away to swallow it at leisure. 
GENUS NETTION. 
General Characters. — Tail feathers 16; sides of bill parallel throughout; 
upper and lower outlines m front of nostril straight; wing with speculum 
bright green; head of male in winter and breeding plumage with short 
KEY TO ADULT MALES. 
1. Sides and shoulders finely lined with black and white, and shoulders 
crossed by white bar . carolinensis, p. 51. 
1 . bides and shoulders coarsely lined with black and white ; shoulders 
without white bar. crecca, p. 51. 
[138.] Nettion crecca (Linn.). European Teal. 
Adult male. — Similar to carolinensis but shoulder without white bar, and 
black lines and spots on body heavier and coarser. Adult female: indis¬ 
tinguishable from female carolinensis. 
Distribution. — Northern part of Old World, occasional in northern part 
of JNorth America and in California. 
139. Nettion carolinensis (Gmel.). Green-winged Teal. 
Adult male. — Head light chestnut, forehead and chin blackish ; a wide 
crescent of green and black inclosing eye and reaching to base of crest; breast 
buffy, spotted with black ; back 
gray, shoulders crossed by white 
bar; shoulders and sides finely 
cross-lined with black and white ; 
wing with green and black specu¬ 
lum, bordered above by buff and 
below by white ; under tail coverts 
black, bordered by rich buff. Adult 
female: back, sides, and breast 
dusky, scalloped and mottled with 
buff; throat and belly whitish ; 
base of wing slaty; wing with 
speculum as in male. Young male: 
belly white. Length: 12.50-15.00, wing 6.25-7.40, bill 1.40-1.60. 
Distribution. — Whole of North America, breeding in Colorado, Oregon, 
and California, but mainly north of the United States; in winter south to 
Honduras and Cuba. 
Nest. — In a tuft of grass, or on dry ground among willows, made of 
grass and lined with down. Eggs: usually 9 to 12, sometimes 16 to 18, 
pale buff. 
The green-winged teal, like most of its near relatives, is far more 
a duck of the marshes, grass-fringed ponds, meadow creeks, and 
irrigation ditches than of the clear lakes and streams. Like the 
mallard, and often in its company, the teal are fond of feeding in 
shallow water where, by standing on their heads, — with tails and 
sometimes feet sticking up out of the water, — they can reach the 
bottom to grub up the tender roots and water plants, and sift out 
