Feb. 1, 1S70.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



35 



THE TEAL. 

 (Anas crecca.) 



OE all the prizes with which a wild-fowl shooter 

 could wish to meet, a spring of Teal is amongst 

 the first. Independently of their being by far the 

 best biids of the whole duck tribe for the table, they 

 are generally much easier to get at ; and as they 

 require but a slight blow to bring them down, it 

 matters little what charge of shot is in the 

 barrels. 



The quiet rushy pools which lie at a distance from 

 any road, the turf-holes on a peat-bog, and the slug- 

 gish shallow streams with overhanging vegetation, 

 are the favourite haunts of the Teal. In some parts 

 of the country this bird is resident throughout the 

 year, but as a rule, and in the South of England 

 especially, it can only be looked upon as a winter 

 visitant. Of shy and retired habits, it shuns the 

 more public ponds and rivers, and avoids the habi- 

 tation of man. The extended drainage of waste 

 lands and increased cultivation have no doubt con- 

 duced more than anything else to the scarcity of a 

 bird which was once plentifully distributed over the 

 entire country. 



On approaching the edge of a pond at a distance 

 from a flock of Teal, they may be seen silently re- 

 posing on the water. Immediately the intruder is 

 perceived, a harsh call is heard, and they spring 

 suddenly into the air, wheeling round and about 

 with amazing rapidity, now looking black now 

 white, according as the upper or under surface of 

 their bodies is presented to the eye. Frequently, as 

 though intending to alight, they fall through the air 

 with a whistling sound, recovering themselves when 

 apparently in the water, and rising again to a 

 height. These manoeuvres are repeated until the 

 eye is strained in following them, and the whole 

 flock at length settle down again in silence and re- 

 pose as before. At such times it requires no small 

 amount of caution to get near enough to them for a 

 shot. 



Col. Hawker, whose practical knowledge of wild- 

 fowl has rarely if ever been equalled, has described 

 the habits of the Teal very accurately in his 

 "Instructions to Young Sportsmen." 



" If you spring a Teal, he will not soar up and 

 leave the country, like a wild duck, but will most 

 probably keep along the brook, like a sharp-flying 

 woodcock, and then drop suddenly down. But you 

 must keep your eye on the place, as he is very apt 

 to get up again, and fly to another spot before he 

 will quietly settle. He will frequently, too, swim 

 down stream the moment after he drops ; so that 

 if you do not cast your eye quickly that way, instead 

 of continuing to look for him in one spot, he will 

 probably catch sight of you and fly up, while your 

 attention is directed to the wrong place. If the 



brook in which you find him is obscured by many 

 trees, you had better direct your follower to make 

 a large circle, and get ahead of, and watch him, in 

 case he should slily skim away down the brook, and, 

 by this means, escape from you altogether." 



The female Teal, like the females of all the duck 

 tribe, has little to recommend it in appearance, 

 although the observant naturalist does not fail to 

 notice that its dusky brown and grey plumage is 

 peculiarly well adapted to its concealment during 

 the time it is engaged in nesting. The cock Teal, 

 on the other hand, has scarcely an equal amongst 

 wildfowl for beauty of colouring. The chestnut 

 head, with a patch of glossy green on each side, 

 edged with buff ; the neck, back, and flanks beauti- 

 fully pencilled with black and grey; the bright green 

 speculum on the wing, broadly bordered above and 

 below with velvet black ; and the black and buff 

 under tail-coverts present to the eye a perfect 

 picture of harmonizing colour which defies the 

 imitative pencil of the artist. 



In July the old Teal moult, completely losing 

 their quill-feathers, and are then for a time unable 

 to fly. The males at this season undergo that re- 

 markable change of plumage which has been ob- 

 served in other ducks, — losing all the colours which 

 are characteristic of their sex, and presenting a very 

 sorry appearance in contrast with.their spring dress. 

 The young at this time are able to shift for them- 

 selves, for the Teal nests early in the year. We 

 have several times found the eggs during the last 

 week of April. Although usually placed in the 

 vicinity of water, the nest is sometimes at a con- 

 siderable distance from it, and always rests upon 

 dry ground. We have never found a Teal's nest in 

 the swampy situations in which Coots, Moorhens, 

 and Grebes build. 



A hollow is generally scraped out at the foot of 

 some overhanging bunch of heather, or tussock of 

 dry waving grass, and lined with fine heath stalks 

 and bents. Here eight or ten creamy-white eggs, 

 are laid, and as the hen covers them, she plucks 

 from her breast and sides the soft brown down 

 which underlies her feathers, and places it entirely 

 round the eggs, filling up all the interstices, thus 

 forming a warm bed for the young as soon as they 

 leave the shell. The overhanging roof of grass or 

 heather conceals from above the clutch of white eggs, 

 which would otherwise be espied by the passing 

 crow and assuredly be carried off by this thievish 

 bird. 



The old duck is very attentive to her young, 

 leading them from the nest to the marsh, where 

 they paddle, about on the soft ground and shallow 

 pools, snapping up flies and beetles with their tiny 

 bflls, and varying their meal with the seeds of 

 aquatic plants. They swim and dive well almost as 

 soon as hatched ; but how they contrive to follow 

 their parents through the long heather and the 



