CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 27 1 



CASE 59. 



THE TEAL. 

 Order, Anseres. Family, Anatidce. 



Teal are the smallest of our Ducks, and are 

 indigenous, but in the winter we have many more 

 visitors. They are fairly abundant and widely 

 distributed, especially over Scotland and Ireland. 



In regard to nesting-habitat, Howard Saunders 

 gives the localities as follows : " Sparingly in the 

 south of England, and occasionally in the valley of 

 the Thames, but in the eastern counties and the 

 valley of the Trent it is a fairly numerous breeder, 

 and becoming more frequent, while it finds suitable 

 retreats in the Welsh bogs, as well as the mosses of 

 Lancashire and Cumberland," etc. Arain, "It is 

 a widely distributed breeding-species in Scotland, 

 and nests in every county in Ireland, where a great 

 influx takes place during the cold season." The nest 

 " is placed in tufts of heather or under low bushes 

 on the borders of morasses and pools, composed 

 of dry grasses and leaves, to which a lining of down 

 is added during the progress of incubation. Eggs — 

 eiorht to ten, and even to fifteen, in number ; colour, 

 buffish or creamy-white. Many instances are on 

 record of the affection of this bird for its brood, and 

 a female has even been known to follow her duck- 

 lings into captivity." 



The Teal feeds by night, on slugs, worms, 

 insects, aquatic plants, crustaceans, etc. The speci- 

 mens in the case were got one day on one of my 



