They are the first ducks that arrive in that part of the country, frequently making their appearance in the beginning of September, in large flocks, when they are exceedingly fat. They depart, however, when the cold becomes so intense as to form ice; and in this respect they differ from the Green-winged Teals, which brave the coldest weather of that country. Toward the end of February, however, they are as abundant as ever, but they are then poor, although their plumage is perfected, and the males are very beautiful. During their stay, they are seen on bayous and ponds, along the banks of the Mississippi, and on the large and muddy sand-bars around, feeding on grasses and their seeds, particularly in autumn, when they are very fond of the wild pimento. Many remain as late as the 15th of May, in company with the Shoveller and Gadwall Ducks, with which they are usually fond of associating. On my reaching the south-western pass of the Mississippi, on the 1st April 1837, I found these birds very abundant there, in full plumage, and in flocks of various sizes. On the 11th of the same month, when about an hundred miles to the westward, we saw large and dense flocks flying in the same direction. On the 15th, at Derniere Isle, the Blue-wings were very plentiful and gentle. Two days after, they were quite as numerous round Rabbit Island, in the Bay called Cote Blanche; and on the 26th they were found on all the ponds and salt bayous or inlets of Galveston Island in Texas, as well as on the water-courses of the interior, where I was assured that they bred in great numbers. Though on account of the nature of the localities in which these Teals breed, and which cannot be explored otherwise than in extremely light canoes, or by risking being engulphed in oozy morasses covered with tall grass, we were not so fortunate as to find any of their nests, we could easily judge by their manœuvres both while on wing and on the water, that we were not far from their well-concealed treasures and the females which we procured unequivocally exhibited the state of exhaustion common in the course of incubation.