258 
graham’s magazine. 
times recover, after having fallen even to the surface of 
the water, or Iain flapping, as it were, in the death-strug¬ 
gle on the blood-stained sand or grassy hassocks. This 
fact has been well noticed, and several examples adduced 
to prove its truth, by Mr. Giraud, in his exceedingly clear 
and correct, though, to our taste, far too brief volume on 
the “ Birds of Long Island.” 
For my own use I invariably adopt for all the smaller 
species of duck—as the two varieties of Teal, the Summer 
Duck, the Golden Eye, and the Buffel-headed Duck, Ana- 
tes, Carolinensis, Discors, Sponsa, and Fuligulce, Clan- 
gula, and Albeola —the same shot which is generally used 
for the various birds known on our shores and rivers as 
bay-snipe, viz : No. 4 or 5—the latter best for the Plovers, 
the former for duck, whether in large or small guns. In 
this relation I may observe that, on one occasion—the only 
one, by the way, on which I ever saw a green-winged 
teal in the summer season—I killed a couple of these beau¬ 
tiful birds, right and left, while woodcock shooting, in 
Orange County, New York, with No. 8 shot. They 
sprang quite unexpectedly from behind a willow bush, on 
the Wawayanda creek, and I dropped them both quite 
dead, some what to my own astonishment, and to the 
utter astounding of Fat Tom, who witnessed it, into the 
middle of the stream, respectively at twenty and twenty- 
five yards distance. Until I recovered them I supposed 
that they were young wood ducks, but on examination 
they proved to be young green-winged teal, of that sea¬ 
son, in their immature plumage. This must have been in 
the last week of July or the first of August—it was many 
years since, and as at that time I kept no shooting diary, 
I unfortunately am unable to verify the exact date. The 
birds must, I conclude, have been bred in that vicinity, 
by what means I cannot conjecture, unless that the pa¬ 
rent birds might have been wounded in the spring, and 
disabled from completing their northern migration, and 
that this, as is some times the case with the minor birds 
of passage, might have superinduced their breeding in 
that, for them, far southern region. In corroboration of 
this I may add that, in the spring of 1846, a couple of these 
birds haunted a small reedy island in front of my house, 
on the Passaic, to so late a day in summer—the 29t.h, if I 
do not err, of May—that I sedulously avoided disturbing 
them, in the hope that they would breed there. This I 
yet think would have been the case but for the constant 
disturbance of that lovely river throughout the summer by 
gangs of ruffianly loafers, with whom the neighboring 
town of Newark abounds beyond any other town of its 
size in the known world, boating upon its silvery surface 
day and night, and rendering day and night equally hide¬ 
ous with their howls and blasphemies. 
Before proceeding to the description of these birds it 
is well to observe that it will be found the better way, in 
approaching them, as indeed all “wild fowl, to work, if 
possible, up wind to them ; not that wild fowl have the 
the power, as some pretend, of scenting the odor of the 
human enemy on the tainted gale, as is undoubtedly the 
case with deer and many other quadrupeds, but that their 
hearing is exceedingly acute, and that their heads are 
pi icked up to listen, at the occurrence of the least unusual 
sound, and at the next moment — hey. presto! — they are 
off. 
The little cut at the head of this paper, for his spirited 
and faithful execution of which the author and artist must 
be permitted to return his acknowledgments to his friend, 
Mr. Brightly, represents a favorite feeding ground of the 
various tribes of water fowl, as is indicated by the large 
gaggle of geese passing over, from right to left, and the 
trip of green-wings alighting to the cull of a clamorous 
drake in the background. On a rocky spur of the shore, 
in the right foreground, is a male Green-Winged Teal, in 
the act of springing, with his legs already gathered under 
him; and, still nearer to the front of the picture, on the 
right, a Blue-Winged Drake, swimming on the limpid 
water, soliciting his congener, with reverted neck, and 
the harsh gabble—whence his name—to take wing and 
greet the new-comers—it being the object of the drafts¬ 
man to give an idea not merely of the markings and form 
of these two most beautiful and graceful of the duck tribe, 
but of their motions, the character of their flights, and the 
nature of their feeding grounds and habitations. 
The head of the Green-Winged Teal is of moderate size 
and compressed ; the bill nearly'as long as the head, deeper 
than broad at the base, depressed at the tip ; neck slender, 
of moderate length; body full and depressed; wings rather 
small, feet short and rather far back. 
The plumage is short and blended; that of the hinder 
head and neck elongated into a soft filamentous drooping 
crest. The bill is black; iris hazel; feet light blue ; head 
and upper part of neck bright chestnut brown; a broad 
band of shining rich bottle-green, narrowing from the eye 
backward and downward to the nape, margined below 
with black, anterior to which is a white line ; chin dusky 
brown. Upper parts and flanks white, beautifully and 
closely undulated with narrow lines of deep gray'. Ante¬ 
rior to the wings is a broad transverse lunated white bar 
—this alone distinguishing the American from the Euro¬ 
pean bird. The wing coverts, scapulars and quills gray. 
The speculum bright green above, blue-black below, mar¬ 
gined posteriorly with pure white. Tail brownish gray, 
margined with paler brown. Lower part of the neck un¬ 
dulated, like the back. Breast pale rufous, spotted and 
banded with black; white below. Abdomen white, barred 
with gray. A black patch under the tail; the lateral tail 
coverts tawny, the larger black, white-tipped and mar¬ 
gined. Length of male bird, 14J.24. Female, 13J.22J. 
The description and drawing of this bird are taken, by 
kind permission, which the writer gratefully acknow¬ 
ledges, from a fine specimen in the Academy of Natural 
Science of this city. 
The Blue-Winged Teal is rather larger than the above, 
the male measuring 16.31£, the female 15.24. 
The shape and proportions of this bird closely resemble 
those of the latter, but in plumage it widely differs from 
it. The bill is blueish black; iris dark hazel; feet dull 
yellow, webs dusky; upper part of the head black, a 
semilunar patch of pure white, margined with black ante¬ 
rior to the eye; the rest of the head and upper neck deep 
purplish gray, with changeable ruddy reflections. The 
lower hind neck, back, alula, and upper parts generally, 
rich chocolate brown, every feather margined with paler 
tints, from reddish buff to pale reddish gray, with black 
central markings, changing to metallic green in the cen¬ 
tres. Upper wing coverts rich ultra-marine blue, with 
a metallic lustre; the lower parts pale reddish orange, 
shaded on the breast with purplish red, and thickly spot¬ 
ted with roundish or cliptieal black spots; axillary 
feathers, lower wing coverts, and a patch on the side 
of the rump, pure white; lower tail coverts brownish 
black. 
These, with the exception of the Buffel-IIeadcd Duck, 
are the two smallest; with the exception of the Summer 
Duck, the two loveliest; with the exception of the Can¬ 
vas-Back the two best of the duck tribe. Well met be 
they, whether on the board or in the field—shot be they 
with No. 4—eaten roast, underdone, with cayenne and a 
squeeze of a lemon, lubricated with red wine, quantum 
sujf. 
