“‘Young in down have the same pale spots on the upper parts as those of the mallard, but the white on the throat and belly is slightly suffused with gray instead of buff, and in addition to the dark lines passing through the eye, a second dark line passes from the lores below the eye to the nape.’ (Seebohm.)
“According to some ornithologists, European specimens differ very appreciably from North American in having a narrower speculum, but I have failed to find that there is any appreciable difference.” (Salvadori.)
“Found in very large flocks on Manila Bay during January and February but wild and difficult to kill.” (Worcester.)
Genus QUERQUEDULA Oken, 1817.
This genus is very much like Nettion but the bill is broader, and instead of being of the same width throughout, is wider toward the tip; the nail also is broader.
162. QUERQUEDULA QUERQUEDULA (Linnæus).
ASIATIC BLUE-WINGED TEAL.
- Anas querquedula Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 126.
- Querquedula circia Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1895), 27, 293; Blanford, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 449, fig. 117 (head).
- Querquedula querquedula Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 220; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 175; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 38.
Calayan (McGregor); Luzon (McGregor). Northern Europe and northern Asia, wintering in northeastern Africa, Indian Peninsula, China, and Malay Archipelago.
“Adult male.—Upper part of head and occiput brown-black; from above eyes, on each side of head, a whitish band, extending to the sides of occiput; sides of head and upper part of neck chocolate-brown, streaked with white; chin black; back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blackish, each feather edged with grayish olive; scapulars elongated and pointed, black, with a central stripe of white; breast with brown and black crescentic bands, producing a scaly-like appearance; lower breast white; abdomen, sides, and flanks white, waved with narrow blue lines; longer feathers of the flanks bounded by a subapical white band, and a bluish gray band at the tip; sides of the rump and under tail-coverts whitish, with black spots; upper wing-coverts and outer scapulars bluish gray; wing-speculum on the secondaries glossy green, bounded anteriorly by a white band formed by the greater wing-coverts, and posteriorly by another white band at the tip of the secondaries; primaries and tail-feathers brown, the latter edged with whitish; under wing-coverts dark gray, the central ones, like the axillars, white. Bill black, iris hazel; legs, toes, and their membranes grayish brown. Length, about 406; wing, 197; tail, 70; culmen, 41; tarsus, 30.