222 GREEN- VVINGED TEA L.
ing-places are in the interior of the fur countries; as it has been met there
by Sir EDWARD PARRY, Sir JAMES Ross, Dr RICHARDSON, and other
intrepid travellers. Some, however, remain on our great lakes, and I
have seen individuals breeding on the banks of the Wabash, in Illinois,
where I found a female with young, all of which I obtained. It was not
far above Vincennes, and in the month of July. On Lakes Erie and
Michigan, nests containing eggs have also been found; but these may
have been cases in which the birds were unable to proceed farther north,
on account of wounds or other circumstances, or because of the early period
at which they might have paired before the general departure of the
flocks, a cause of detention more common in migratory birds than people
seem to be aware of. These opportunities, few as they were, have enabled
me to see the kinds of places in which the nests were found, the
structure of the nest, the number, size, and colour of the eggs; so that I
have in so far been qualified to draw a comparison between our Greenwinged
Teal and that of Europe.
The Green-wings leave the neighbourhood of New Orleans in the end
of February; but in the Carolinas they remain until late in March, at
which time also they depart from all the places between the Atlantic and
the States of Kentucky, Indiana, &c. Farther eastward I have seen this
species as late as the 9th of May, when I shot a few not far from Philadelphia.
As you advance farther along our coast, you find it more rare;
and scarcely any are met with near the shores of the British provinces.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, it is never seen. Its migrations southward,
I am satisfied, extend beyond the United States; but their extreme
limits are unknown to me. I have seldom seen it associate with
other species, although I have frequently observed individuals on a pond
or river not far from other Ducks. It is more shy than the Blue-winged
Teal, but less so than most of our other fresh-Water Ducks. Its voice
is seldom heard during winter, except when a flock is passing over an
other that has alighted, when a few of the males call to the voyagers, as
if to invite them to join them. Before they depart, however, they become
noisy. Combats take place among the males ; the females are seen
coquetting around them, and most of the birds are paired before they
leave us.
In the few instances in which I found the nest of this bird, and they
were only three, it was not placed nearer the water than five or six yards,
and I should not have discovered it had I not first seen the birds swim-
GREEN-WINGED TEAL. 223
ming or washing themselves near the spot. By watching them carefully
I discovered their landing places, and on going up found a path formed,
in a direct line among the rushes. In two cases I came so near the nest,
as almost to touch the sitting bird as it rose affrighted. While it flew
round me, and then alighted on the water, I viewed the nest, with perhaps
more interest than I have felt on most occasions of a like nature.
On a scanty bed of the bird's own down and feathers, supported by another
of grasses, intermixed with mud and stalks of the plants around,
raised to the height of four or five inches, I found seven eggs in one,
nine in another, and only five in a third. They were all found in the
month of July, and not far from Green Bay. The average measurement
of the eggs was an inch and three quarters by an inch and three-eighths.
They were much rounded, of a dull yellowish colour, indistinctly marked
with a deeper tint, as if soiled. In one of the nests only the eggs were
fresh. I took two of them, which I afterwards ate. Having planted a
stick as a mark of recognition, I visited the nest three days in succession,
but found that the bird had abandoned it; while those of the other two
nests, which were not more than about a hundred yards distant, and
whose eggs I had handled quite as much, although I took none away,
continued to sit. No male birds were to be seen during my stay in that
neighbourhood. I concluded that although the eggs may be touched or
even handled and lifted from the nest, yet if they were all replaced, the
bird did not take umbrage; but that should any of them be missed,
some strong feeling urged her to abandon the rest. Again I thought
that as incubation had just commenced with this bird, she cared less
about her eggs than the other two whose eggs contained chicks.
Having met with the young of this species only once, at a time when
I was less aware of the necessity of noting observations in writing, I am
unwilling to speak of their colours from recollection. All I can say is
that I had great trouble in catching four of them, so cunningly did thev
hide in the grass, and so expert were they at diving.