INDIAN DUCKS AND THE Hi ALLIES. 255 



" Into such n l)uilding in February or March, you may turn 200 Teal, 

 some Common some Garganey, as you can get them. A few Gad wall 

 and Pintail will also do no harm, but they do not thrive so certainly 

 as the Teal ; and the Garganey, though very good, is not equal for 

 the table to its smaller congener." 



Teal have on so many occasions been found at different times between 

 Juue and August in India that ornithologists have lieen always kept in a 

 state of semi-expectation that their nests would be found somewhere 

 wiihin our Indian Ihnits, either in Kashmir or some of the Himalayan 

 lakes. Still time lias gone on and no such nest has yet been taken and, 

 personally, I think, it is unlikely one ever will be. Amongst the many 

 thousands shot annually, it would be strange if some few, whilst escap- 

 ing death and even severe wounds, did not receive internal injuries, in- 

 visible themselves after a brief period, yet quite sufficient to incapacitate 

 the bird from migration. This would be quite enough to account for 

 the few birds met with atabnoimal times, and though these might appear 

 strong and robust on the wing, yet it does not follow that they were 

 equally so a week or ten days before they were noticed. They 

 breed practically over the Avholo of their Northern habitat as for 

 south as the 40th degree, but in the southern portion of this range 

 they only breed here and there in very small numbers. They breed 

 freely in Northern England and in Scotland though seldom in the 

 southern countries, yet they have been -recorded at this season and 

 their eggs have been taken in Spain, Greece, North Italy and South 

 Russia. 



They breed very rarely in Greenland, plentifully in Iceland, bat not 

 much in the extreme north of Europe and probably not at all in the 

 extreme north of Asia. Throughout Southern Siberia, Manchuria and 

 the Amur a great number breed, and a few also in the north of 

 Japan. 



They generally make their nests at the edge of swamps and other 

 pieces of water, often where there is actually a little water standing and, 

 oven where they make them at a distance from any wafer, the site 

 chosen is nearly always a wet and boggy one. Thus in Scotland they 

 sometimes breed on the moors in amongst the heather, but they always 

 select some dip which keeps more or less damp and where the water 

 may occasionally collect. 



