DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS: CINNAMON TEAL 
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commonly over the western central portion of the State (1916-1918), and on June 
16, 1919, several were seen on the Rio Grande Gun Club lake southwest of Albu¬ 
querque; on May 3, 1920, 12 pairs were found at lakes 4 miles north of Albu¬ 
querque (Ligon). On May 11, 1924, a male and female were seen near the Rio 
Grande south of the San Juan Pueblo (Jensen). They are also found on moun¬ 
tain lakes in Colfax County (Charles Springer, 1925).] 
They are common in New Mexico during migration and have been noted at 
3,000 feet at Carlsbad (Bailey); 4,800 feet, both Albuquerque (Woodhouse), and 
on the salt flats west of the Sacramentos (Hollister); 6,000 feet, Silver City (Hunn); 
7,000 feet, Fort Wingate (Shufcldt); 8,000 feet, Halls Peak (Barber). Early fall 
migrants were noted in the Animas Valley, August 9, 1908 (Goldman), and most of 
the species pass through the State in September. 
It is not probable that any winter in New Mexico, and regular spring migration 
does not begin usually until late in March—on March 30, 1901, one was taken at 
Albuquerque (Birtwell). [At Silver City they are fairly abundant late spring 
migrants (Kellogg, 1927)J—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Often on small islands or banks of ponds in sedge or salt grass, com¬ 
pactly made of grass lined with more or less dusky down. Eggs: 6 to 12, creamy 
white or pale buff. 
Food. —Seeds of aquatic plants, as pondweeds, scirpus, ruppia, and also water 
beetles, weevils, and dragon flies, snails, and bivalves. The stomach of one taken 
September 28, 1904, at Burford Lake, was full of small seeds, mainly Dondia from 
the flooded bottoms (Bailey).] 
General Habits. —The names Red-breasted Teal and South Amer¬ 
ican Teal are both descriptive as the Cinnamon is of South American 
origin, having spread over the Western United States. A clue to the 
significance of its coloration is given by Doctor Henry, who found it on 
the Mimbres and the Rio Grande in the early days. Usually found 
among the sedge that borders sloughs near a watercourse, he says, 
“its plumage, so closely resembling the reddish brown of the withered 
sedge of last year's growth, renders it observed with difficulty, thus 
carrying out that admirable rule in nature's handiwork that so generally 
prevails, viz., assimilation of the plumage of birds to the color of the 
haunts they affect” (1885, p. 316). When not wanting to call attention 
to himself or when merely thinking of the one ear he wishes to reach, 
the male Cinnamon uses what Doctor Wetmore characterizes as a low, 
rattling chattering note that can be heard for only a short distance. 
During their courtship, Mr. IT. C. Bryant once saw two combatants 
that were swimming on the water “face each other about a foot apart, 
and make lunges at each other, using both bill and wings as weapons. 
Occasionally one of the birds would avoid attack by diving, allowing the 
other to jump completely over him” (1914, p. 223). At Lake Burford 
when some single males came in after the others were paired, Doctor 
Wetmore says they “persisted in paying attention to females already 
mated, much to the disgust of the paired drakes, who drove them away, 
bowing and chattering angrily. On one occasion six were seen making 
demonstrations toward one female who paid no attention to them but 
