Bluewinged Teal

Blue-winged Teal (Querquedula discors), an American species distinguished by the blue wing coverts and green speculum bordered above with white, and ranging from Saskatchewan and the 58th parallel to Guiana and the West Indies, breeding principally in the north and west of the continent. When the first frost comes on these birds travel south, and are then found abundantly in the inundated rice-fields of the Southern States. They frequent muddy and reedy shores, flying out from cover with great rapidity, and when they alight they drop suddenly like snipe or woodcock. The note is a low rapid quack. The adult male is about 18 in. long; general plumage on upper surface brownish and blackish green; wings, shades of blue; head, black on crown; sides and neck, purple-green; a crescent-shaped white patch in front of each eve; under surface, orange-red marked with black. In the female the head and neck are dusky. These birds are highly esteemed for the table, and they might readily be domesticated. In India the name is applied to the garganey (q.v.), which occurs in that country as a winter visitor.