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BIRDS OF HONG KONG.
PART XII.
G. A. C. HERKLOTS.
THE FALCATED TEAL Anas falcata, Georgi
Plate 23.
The Falcated Teal is one of the most handsome of the ducks which are found in Eastern Asia,-India, China and Japan. It is not as gaudily clad as the Mandarin Drake but its beautifully pencilled black and white feathers set off to best advantage the bronze, purple and green head, the green speculum on each wing and the buff patches at either side of the tail.
This teal was first described in 1775 under the scientific name given above but in 1856 it was separated frm the genus Anas and placed in a genus of its own, Eunetta. This distinction was made because of the ter- tials or inner secondaries of the wings being falcate or sickle-shaped. Later the old name was restored as ornithologists did not consider this difference as meritting generic distinction.
The Falcated Teal is a much larger bird than the Common, or Green-winged Teal, Anas crecca crecca which is in so much demand for the table in Hong Kong, being 18 or 19 inches long as compared with the 121⁄2 to 14 inches of the latter. It is also not so esteemed for food as the flesh is inclined to be a bit strong. It is a bird of the estuaries and large open spaces, remaining in flocks in the open water far from land during the day coming in to feed in the marshes in the evening and leaving them again early next morning. We have been told that though it is, as a rule, a silent bird yet it possesses a very characteristic cry which once heard can be recognized without difficulty when heard again.
Occasionally this teal strays into Eorope but its range is usually be- tween the limits of northern Asia in the summer and Kwangtung in the winter, where it is then common. It is not known to nest in China. The Falcated Teal certainly visits the local Territories e.g. Mai-po, during the winter and one who knows their call has told us that he has heard them this year but we have received no specimen for examination. On the last day of last year one was received from Swatow. It was sent down for identification and proved to be an adult male correct in every detail of plumage save that no sickle-shaped tertial feathers were present. The skin has been kept for reference. Below is given a full description of this teal based chiefly on the description given in the "British Museum Catalogue of Birds" Vol. XXVII, p. 219, and in part on that in Caldwell's "South China Birds "
P. 386, checked by reference to the skin from Swatow. The painting by Lieutenant Commander A. M. Hughes, R.N. reproduced here is so accurate that for most readers a detailed description will be found scarcely necessary.
The Falcated Teal, Anas falcata Georgi, plate 23. Length 18-19 inches. MALE. Crown iridescent coppery-chestnut, sides of head iridescent bronze-purple greener posteriorly, a long green mane on the back of the nape. Prominent white spot on lower forehead. Throat and upper part of the neck white intersected below by a bronze-green collar. Bill greenish-black. Lower eyelid white,
The Hong Kong Naturalist.