_Cyanopterus inornatus._—+Mihi.+
[126] Length 15³⁄₄ inches, expanse 24¹⁄₄, flexure 7, tail 2⁹⁄₁₀,
breadth of beak ⁶⁄₁₀, height ¹³⁄₂₀, rictus 1⁹⁄₁₀, tarsus 1⁶⁄₁₀,
middle toe 1³⁄₄.
Irides hazel; beak black; feet dusky clay colour; (in summer,
yellow.) Crown and hind-head dark brown, speckled with pale
dashes; sides of head paler brown, with black specks; throat and
chin drab-white. Lower neck, back, and tail-coverts bistre, with
horse-shoe lines of pale brown. Scapulars dark brown, with green
gloss, a narrow border of pale brown. Wing-coverts pale blue;
winglet, primaries, and primary coverts blackish, with pale inner
webs; secondary greater-coverts white, with large spots of metallic
green, which sometimes become disks. Secondaries, outer webs rich
golden-green, edge of tips pale; tertials long, pointed, brown with
pale shafts, slightly glossed. Tail feathers dark brown, with pale
edges, and transverse spots on the outmost. Breast, belly, vent,
and under tail-coverts silky drab, irregularly mottled and spotted
with blackish; sides marked with horse-shoes of dark brown and
pale. Inner surface of wings white.
The Teal which from the absence of the white crescent in both sexes,
I have thus named, is well known in Jamaica, and has probably been
mistaken for the female of _discors_, with which it associates. Its
manners are said to be identical with those of its congener. It much
resembles _C. Fretensis_ of Eyton, but has not the broad yellow spot on
the beak, nor the barred flanks.
The stomachs of such as I have dissected, contained small seeds,
and coarse sand. One was brought me alive in March; its voice, when
alarmed, was a very subdued hissing, like that of a goose, but very
softly. I have met with this species only in Spanish Town.
The eastern point of Old Harbour is occupied by a salt-morass,
immediately opposite Goat Island, which affords the principal supply
of Ducks to the Spanish Town market; and more particularly since the
construction of the railway has driven the birds from Passage Fort. The
morass borders the little cove called Galleon Harbour, and extends over
a small projecting peninsula, where it is cut into natural channels,
intersecting each other at right angles, through which the sea flows,
which are almost as regular as if cut by art. The surf, driven through
them by the sea-breeze, and the frequent passage of boats, keep
these singular canals open, and prevent the growth in them of the
mangroves, which are perpetually throwing out their bow-like roots, and
encroaching on every unoccupied space. It is at the open _pans_ formed
by the intersection of the canals, that the Ducks of various species
congregate: when the gunners approaching in boats up the canals, come
suddenly upon the flocks, and taking them in _enfilade_, bring down
numbers at a shot.