Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast Part 7

The cinnamon teal, very commonly called the blue-winged teal by the sportsmen of the Coast, is only a late fall and early spring bird on our shooting grounds north of Lower California and Mexico. While the cinnamon teal has a blue wing there is no resemblance between the male cinnamon and the male blue-winged. The females of the two species, however, have a marked resemblance in color but a wide difference in shape of body. The female cinnamon teal is much darker on the throat than the blue-winged female, and generally shows a considerable of the cinnamon color of the male. The male of the blue-winged teal partakes more of the grayish color of the green-winged variety and has a white crescent in front of the eye. The northern limit of the cinnamon teal is about the lat.i.tude of San Francisco so far as their appearance on our shooting grounds is concerned. A few, however, go farther north for breeding purposes.

They are quite common in the southern part of California, where they come to breed. They winter in Mexico, Lower California and Arizona in great numbers. They nest on the mountain lakes and along the mountain streams of California and even as far north as Oregon. In southern California they nest along the salt-water marshes, especially those of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.

=Color=--Male--The male bird cannot well be mistaken for that of any other species. The general color being a dark cinnamon, or in fact much nearer a chestnut in color; the head being somewhat darker than the rest of the bird; the upper wing-coverts being blue, form a large patch of blue at the shoulders when the wing is at rest; the speculum, like that of all the teal is green.

Female--The female resembles the female of the blue-winged teal, but is a little larger with a longer and slimmer body; the chin is dusky and the throat is speckled; the breast also has a slight tinge of the cinnamon color of the male.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nests are built generally in long gra.s.s patches of the low grounds bordering the streams and lakes and even the salt marshes. The eggs which average about a dozen are of a peculiar light creamy color with a faint bluish tinge.

=Measurements=--Total length, 16 inches; wing, 7-1/2; bill, 1-3/4.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLUE-WINGED TEAL (Anas discors)]

THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL

(Anas discors)

The blue-winged teal is only a straggler north of Lower California, Arizona and Mexico. In Mexico and Lower California I know them to be quite common, and reasonably plentiful in some parts of Arizona.

The blue-winged teal is a plumper bird than either of the other species, and not near so handsomely marked. It is a rapid flyer and affords good shooting in those sections where it is plentiful.

=Color=--Male--Head, a glossy purplish gray, darker on top; between the eye and the bill is a white crescent-shaped mark about one-fourth wider in its center than the eye; the wing-coverts are blue like those of the cinnamon teal; back, dark gray; under parts, gray, spotted with black; speculum, rich green; bill, black, and legs and feet, yellow.

Female--The female resembles the female of the cinnamon teal; but unlike the cinnamon it has no dark markings under the chin, or any of the cinnamon color faintly seen on the cinnamon female. The bill also is much shorter, and the legs are of a yellowish tinge.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nests are much the same as the other members of the teal family. The eggs about a dozen in number are pale buff.

=Measurements=--Total length, 15 inches; wing, about 7, and bill, 1-1/2 inches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SHOVELLER OR SPOON-BILL (Spatula clypeata)]

THE SPOON-BILL OR SHOVELLER

(Spatula clypeata)

The shoveler, or spoonbill, as they are commonly called, is also an early duck upon our ponds; they, too, breed throughout the mountains of our hunting grounds. When they first arrive on our ponds they are very fat and finely flavored, but they soon become poor of flesh and lose the flavor brought with them from their mountain homes. And then they are generally let pa.s.s undisturbed by the discriminating sportsman.

=Color=--Male--Head and neck, green; breast, white, shading into rusty chestnut toward the abdomen; lesser wing-coverts, blue; speculum, green, with white border; legs, orange red.

Female--The female is much smaller than the male and lacks all its high coloring. The general color is buff, mottled with brown; wing-coverts and speculum, same as the male.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nest, which is a rude affair, generally contains from seven to ten eggs of a light buff color.

=Measurements=--Total length of the male, about 20 and the female, 18 inches; wing, 9 to 9-1/2; bill, about 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 inches, and very broad at the end.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PIN-TAIL OR SPRIG (Spatula acuta)]

THE PIN-TAIL

(Dafila acuta)

The pin-tail, or sprig is another very common duck of the Coast. Great numbers of this species breed on our mountain lakes and, maturing early, they are about the first to appear upon our shooting grounds, great flocks reaching as far south as San Diego county, the mouth of the Colorado river and the lakes and marshes of Lower California, Arizona and northern Mexico as early as the middle of August or the first of September. They come from the mountains plump and fat, and as soon as the shooting season is open prove quite acceptable to the epicure.

The pin-tail ranges throughout the territory covered by this work and far to the north of it, and the fact that they breed around the mountain lakes for the whole distance accounts for their early appearance on the shooting grounds of the Coast.

=Color=--Male--Head and neck, rich brown, with a white stripe running from the ociput down the sides of the neck to the breast; bill, lead color, with a black stripe along the top; back, gray; breast, white; central tail feathers, very long and pointed; speculum, light smoky brown, edged with white.

Female--The female is much more of an ocher brown than the male, and without the stripe on the neck or the lead color of the bill. The top of the head and the sides of the neck are streaked with brown; breast, spotted with dark brown; under parts, white. While it somewhat resembles the female mallard, the much narrower bill and difference of the speculum should prevent any error in identification. Besides the tail is pointed and the axillars are white, barred with dark brown.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is usually back a little distance from the water's edge and contains from eight to twelve bluish-white eggs.

=Measurements=--Total length, male, 28 and female, 22 inches; wing, 9-1/2; bill, 2 inches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOOD DUCK (Aix sponsa)]

THE WOOD DUCK

(Aix sponsa)

The wood duck, the handsomest of all the American ducks, is not plentiful anywhere, and seems to be growing fewer in numbers.

Ornithologists cla.s.s them as resident ducks, breeding throughout their range. From my personal experience I believe that they are migratory, at least to a considerable extent, for while many flocks of from half a dozen to twenty birds can be seen along the timbered portions of the Sacramento river during the summer months and the early fall, as well as along other wooded streams of the Coast, few are to be seen during the shooting season. From this fact I can draw but one conclusion; they migrate south in the winter. A few are killed each winter but they can only be considered a rare duck whose beauty lends an occasional charm to the game bag.

=Color=--Male--The male has a long crest falling down the back of the neck and showing a green and purple l.u.s.ter; the bill is red with a dark stripe on top; a broad stripe of white commences under the bill and pa.s.ses down the neck, meeting another stripe of white that nearly encompa.s.ses the neck; sides and front of lower neck, brownish purple, dotted with white; back, a bronze green; speculum, bluish purple, bordered with black and white.

Female--The general plan of the markings of the female is the same as that of the male, but the colors are not so bright, nor the crest so long. The crest is more of a brown, and the breast a pale brown, mottled with dark spots.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is built in the hollow of a tree or stump, and occasionally a considerable distance above the ground. The eggs, which average about eight, are of a pale brownish white. The young are taken from the nest in the bill of the mother, and are often seen perched on her back while she is swimming around in search of food.

=Measurements=--Total length of the male, about 18 inches, with the female about an inch less; wing, 9-1/4 to 9-1/2; bill 1 3/8 inches.

THE FULVOUS TREE DUCK

(Dendrocygna fulva)

The fulvous tree-duck, commonly called the Mexican tree-duck, and cavalier, as well as the black-bellied tree-duck (=Dendrocygna autumnalis=), according to the cla.s.sification of the ornithologist, belong to the subfamily, =Anserinae=, the same family as the geese. The fact that they have a bill more like that of the goose than any other duck, a goose neck also, and that there is no difference in the s.e.xes will show the reason for such cla.s.sification. Their generic name, however, signifies tree-swan. The fulvous tree-duck ranges on our hunting grounds as far north as Sacramento, where occasionally one is killed. They come here only to breed and, therefore, late in the season. Quite a few are killed in southern California, and from Arizona and Lower California south they are very plentiful. The black-bellied tree-duck is only met with as a straggler north of Chihuahua, Mexico. Another species of the same genus (=Dendrocygna elegans=) is a still more southern bird, seldom seen north of the state of Guerrero.

=Color=--Sides of head and neck and lower parts, buff; top of head, back of neck and back, dark brown; wings, dark brown; neck, long and slim; bill, resembles that of a goose very much. Both s.e.xes alike.

=Nest and Eggs=--The nests are generally built in a hollow tree or stump. The eggs number from ten to fifteen and are of an ochreous white.