54 QUERQUEDULA CIIECCA. 



young a considerable distance from the water, and lead the 

 young brood immediately to it. I once, Avhen riding in Ross- 

 shire, saw an old Teal with eight newly-hatched young ones 

 cross the road. The youngsters could not climb up the oppo- 

 site bank, and young and old all squatted flat down to allow 

 me to pass. I got off my horse, and lifted all the little birds 

 up and carried them a little distance down the road to a 

 ditch, for Avliich I concluded they were making, the old bird 

 all the time fluttering about me, and frequently coming 

 within reach of my riding- whip. The part of the road where 

 1 first found them passed through thick fir-wood with rank 

 heather, and it was quite a puzzle to me how such small 

 animals, scarcely bigger than a half-grown mouse, could have 

 got along through it. The next day I saw them all enjoying 

 themselves in a small pond at some little distance off, where 

 a brood of Teal appeared every year. In some of the moun- 

 tain lakes the Teal breed in great numbers, AVhen shooting, 

 in August, I have seen a perfect cloud of these birds occa- 

 sionally rise from some grassy loch." It also breeds, in 

 small numbers, in the tracts north of the Moray Firth, as well 

 as in Orkney and Shetland, In the Hebrides it is extremely 

 rare, but has been seen in LcAvis, and more frequently in 

 Skye. In Orkney it is said by Messrs. Baikie and Heddle to 

 be " by no means numerous, but most abundant during winter. 

 Those which remain during spring and summer build in 

 marshy spots, and near lochs." In Ireland it is reported as 

 being plentiful through the winter, and not wanting at any 

 season. From Lapland, Norway, and Sweden, it extends to 

 the south of Europe, northern Africa, the Caucasus, India, 

 China, and Japan. 



