53 
DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 
fading 1 to dull brown on belly and becoming 1 blackish on chin and crown; 
back dusky, shoulders spotted and 
barred with dusky and brown; wing 
with lesser coverts light blue, middle 
coverts tipped with white, speculum 
green, tertials broadly striped with 
blue, greenish black, and rich buff. 
Adult female: crown dusky, rest of 
head and neck finely specked and 
streaked with dusky on buffy ground ; 
rest of upper parts dusky scalloped 
with buff; wing with large blue 
patch ; under parts brownish, mottled 
with dusky. Young: like female, 
but more streaked below. Length: 
15.50-17.00, wing 7.20-7.25, bill 1.65- 
1.85. 
Remarks. — The female cyanoptera 
differs from the female discors in lg ' ' c,nnamon Teal - 
darker coloration, with the breast browner, and more spotted. 
Distribution. — From southern Canada and the western United States to 
Chili and Falkland Islands; east irregularly into the Mississippi Valley. 
Nest. — On the ground. Eggs: 8 to 12, creamy white. 
Over most of the United States west of the hundredth meridian 
the cinnamon teal is one of the commonest ducks, breeding in abum 
dance throughout the Great Basin country, and to some extent over 
the greater part of its United States range. Its favorite summer 
home is in the shallow tule-bordered lakes or tule marshes of the 
arid region, where, even in the breeding season, it is found in little 
companies feeding along shore or out in the open patches of water. 
The nest is usually in a dry marsh or on a grassy bank not far from 
the water, well lined with dusky down from the duck’s breast. The 
young are protected in the tule cover until old enough to fly, but 
they have many enemies. The prowling coyote dines with equal 
relish on a nest full of eggs or an unwary duck, and there are hawks 
by day and owls by night. 
The teals could hold their own against these old-time enemies, 
however, but a new danger has come to them in the form of the 
unrestrained market hunter. He goes to the breeding ground just 
before the young can fly and while the old ducks are moulting and 
equally helpless, and day after day loads his wagon with them for 
the train. This wholesale slaughter lias gone on until some of the 
breeding grounds have been woefully thinned not only of teal, but 
of other ducks. Without speedy and strenuous efforts to procure 
and enforce protective laws, many species of ducks that breed prin¬ 
cipally within our limits will soon be exterminated. 
Vebnqn RtifcOT. 
