Plate CCCXIII. Male and Female.
Male with the feathers of the head and hind neck slightly elongated,
the tail rounded, acuminate, of fourteen feathers; bill bluish-black;
feet dull yellow; upper part of head black; a semilunar white patch on
the side of the head before the eye, margined before and behind with
black, the rest of the head and the anterior parts of the neck
purplish-blue, with purplish-red reflections; lower hind neck and fore
part of back brownish-black, glossed with green, each feather with a
curved band of pale reddish-buff, and a line or band of the same in
the centre, the hind part of the back greenish-brown, the feathers
edged with paler; smaller wing-coverts light blue; alula, primary
coverts, and primary quills greyish-brown, edged with pale bluish;
outer secondaries of the same colour, those of the speculum
duck-green, changing to blue and bronze, with a narrow line of white
along their terminal margin; the inner greenish-black on the outer
web, greenish-brown on the inner, with a central line and narrow
external margin of pale reddish-buff; the more elongated scapulars
similar, but some of them margined with greenish-blue; secondary
coverts greenish-brown, the outer tipped with white, the inner with
blue; tail-feathers chocolate-brown, slightly glossed with green,
their margin buffy; lower parts pale reddish-orange, shaded on the
breast with purplish-red, and thickly spotted with black, the number
of spots on each feather varying from eight to twenty-five, those on
the upper and hind parts of the sides running into transverse bars;
axillar feathers, some of the lower wing-coverts, and a patch on the
side of the rump pure white; lower tail-coverts brownish-black. Female
with the upper parts blackish-brown, the lower lighter, the feathers
edged with greyish-white, the throat and lore whitish; the smaller
wing-coverts light blue, but the scapulars without that colour.
_Male_, 16, 31-1/4. _Female_, 15, 24.
Breeds in Texas and westward. Great Lakes. Fur Countries. Columbia
River. Very abundant in autumn and spring in the Middle Atlantic
Districts, as well as in the interior. Abundant also in all the
Southern States.
Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p.
74.
Anas discors, Bonap. Syn. p. 385.
Anas discors, Blue-winged Teal, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer.
v. ii. p. 444.
Blue-winged Teal, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 397.
Blue-winged Teal, Anas discors, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 111.