_Nettion crecca_, the Teal, extending from Britain over most of Europe and temperate Asia, and nesting even in the Azores and {126}Kuril Islands, winters in North Africa, India, Ceylon, Siam, China, and Japan, and wanders to North America. The head is chestnut with a green eye-patch enclosed by a buffish line, the upper parts are vermiculated with black and white, the speculum is black, green, and purple with a whitish border, the chest is buff with black spots, the under parts are white. _N. carolinense_ of North America, which strays to Europe–including Britain, has a white crescent on each side of the breast. _N. formosum_ of East Siberia, met with in winter in China, and accidentally in India, Italy, and France, has the head varied with black, green, buff, and white, a bluish wash on the back and chest, a speculum of buff, green, and white. In these three species the female is mottled with brown and rufous, and has a duller speculum. _N. castaneum_ of Australia and New Zealand, recorded from Celebes and Java, the doubtful _N. gibberifrons_ of the Malay Archipelago, _N. albigulare_ of the Andamans, _N. bernieri_ of Madagascar, _N. capense_ of South and East Africa, _N. flavirostre_ of America south of Southern Brazil and Chili, _N. andium_ of Ecuador and Venezuela, _N. georgicum_ of South Georgia, _N. punctatum_ of South and East Africa with Madagascar, _N. brasiliense_ of South America generally, and _N. torquatum_ of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, complete the genus. Teal are fresh-water Ducks, feeding chiefly at night on water-plants, seeds, worms, and insects; they are rather silent, and have not the rattling spring-note of the Garganey. The nest is in both cases usually placed at some distance from water in grass, rushes, or heather, the eight to ten eggs being greenish in the Teal and cream-coloured in the Garganey. _Mareca penelope_, the Wigeon, which breeds in Scotland, and ranges across North Europe and Asia to Alaska, occurring in winter as far south as Madeira, Abyssinia, Borneo, or even Polynesia, and occasionally on the American coasts, has a rufous head with buff crown, blackish throat and quill-feathers, white upper parts vermiculated with black, white wing-coverts and lower surface, and a green speculum with a black edge. The female is mottled with brown and rufous above, and has a grey-green speculum, and buffish lower parts. This species, which has a whistling cry, whence it is termed "Whew," feeds chiefly by day on grass-wrack and the like when frequenting the mud-flats in winter; the nest is among dry heather or rushes, and contains from seven to ten greenish-buff eggs. _M. americana_, of North {127}America generally, has a whitish head with black spots, which cover the crown in the female only. _M. sibilatrix_, reaching from Chili and Paraguay to Patagonia and the Falklands, is chiefly black and white with blue-green nape and black speculum.