Plate CCXXVIII. Male and Female.
Male with the feathers of the head and upper part of hind neck
elongated; tail short, acuminate, of sixteen feathers; bill black,
feet light bluish-grey; head and upper part of neck chestnut-red; a
broad band, narrowing backwards, from the eye, down the back of the
neck, deep shining green, edged with black below, under which is a
whitish line, meeting before the eye another that curves forward and
downward to the angle of the mouth; chin brownish-black, as are the
feathers at the base of the upper mandible; upper parts and flanks
beautifully undulated with brownish-black and white lines; anterior to
the wings a short broad transverse band of white; wings brownish-grey;
speculum in its lower half velvet-black, the upper bright green,
changing to purple, and edged above with black, behind margined with
white, before with reddish-white; tail brownish-grey, the feathers
margined with paler; upper coverts brownish-black, edged with light
yellowish-grey; lower part of neck partly barred as behind,
yellowish-white and spotted with black, as is the fore part of the
breast; abdomen white, faintly barred with grey; a patch of black
under the tail; lateral tail-coverts cream-coloured, the larger black,
with broad white margins and tips. Female with the head and neck
streaked with dark brown and light red, the fore neck whitish, the
upper parts mottled with dark brown, the anterior feathers barred, the
posterior margined with yellowish-white; the speculum less extensive;
the lower part of fore neck tinged with yellowish-red, and mottled
with dark brown, as are the sides; the rest of the lower parts white.
This species differs from _Anas Crecca_ chiefly in having a white band
before the wing, which the European bird has not, while the latter has
the greater part of the outer webs of most of the scapulars white,
there being none of that colour on those of our bird.
_Male_, 14-3/4, 24. _Female_, 13-3/4, 22-1/2.
Dispersed throughout the country during autumn and spring. Extremely
abundant during winter in all the Southern States and Texas. Breeds
sparingly along the Great Lakes, and far north.
Green-winged Teal, Anas Crecca, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p.
101.
Anas Crecca, Bonap. Syn. p. 386.
American Teal, Anas Crecca, var. Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 400.
Anas Crecca, Green-winged Teal, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer.
v. ii. p. 400.
Green-winged Teal, Anas Crecca, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p.
218; v. v. p. 616.