UPLAND SHOOTING. 
121 
lower part of the foreneck is tinged with yellowish-red, and 
mottled with dark brown, as are the sides ; the rest of the lower 
parts wdiite. 
u Length to end of tail, 13f; to end of claws, 14f; extent of 
wings, 22}' weight, lOoz.”— Audubotfs Birds of America. 
u Most writers on the ornithology of America have consid¬ 
ered this bird as a variety of the European Teal. All, how¬ 
ever, agree in their regarding the difference in the variety, and 
of its being constant in the Northern specimens. Thus, Dr. 
Latham mentions the white pectoral band. Forster says, ‘ This 
is a variety of the Teal, for it wants the two white streaks 
above and below the eyes ; the lower one indeed is faintly ex¬ 
pressed in the male, which has also a lunated bar of white over 
each shoulder; this is not to be found in the European Teal.’ 
Pennant observes, 1 that it wants the white line which the Euro¬ 
pean one has above each eye, having only one below; has over 
each shoulder a lunated bar.’ The authors of the Northern 
Zoology observe, 4 The only permanent difference that we have 
been able to detect, after comparing a number of specimens, is 
that the English Teal has a w’hite longitudinal band on the 
scapulars, which the other wants. All the specimens brought 
home by the Expedition have a broad transverse bar on the shoul¬ 
der, which does not exist in the English one.’ And our author 
in his plate, has most distinctly marked the differences. From 
the testimony of all its describers, marking the variety as perma¬ 
nent and similar, I am certainly inclined to consider this bird, 
though nearly allied, to be distinct; and as far as we yet know, 
peculiar to the Northern parts of America. I have not been 
able to procure a specimen for immediate comparison, and only 
once had an opportunity of slightly examining a Northern bird. 
From their great similarity no observers have yet particularly 
attended to the manners of the American bird, or to the mark¬ 
ings of the females. If the above observations are the means of 
directing farther attention to these points, they will have per- 
