52 aUERQUEDULA CRECCA. 



water, as well as from the ground, at once, and shoots away 

 with great rapidity, so as to be less easily shot than most 

 other Ducks. In winter it is generally seen in small flocks, 

 which for the most part repose by day, either on the water or 

 its banks, and begin to feed in the evening. At that season 

 its numbers are greatly augmented by individuals from the 

 Continent, and it is generally dispersed, although not at all 

 common in the northern parts of Scotland. 



It has been found breeding in various parts of England, 

 though not in considerable numbers. Mr. Selby says : — 

 " Our indigenous broods, I am inclined to think, seldom quit 

 the immediate neighboiu'hood of the place in which they are 

 bred, as I have repeatedly observed them to haunt the same 

 district from the time of their hatching till they separated and 

 paired, on the approach of the folloAving spring. The Teal 

 breeds in the long rushy herbage about the edges of lakes, or 

 in the boggy parts of the upland moors. Its nest is formed 

 of a large mass of decayed vegetable matter, with a lining of 

 down and feathers, upon which eight or ten eggs rest." The 

 eggs are cream-coloured, an inch and nine-twelfths in length, 

 and an inch and four- twelfths in breadth. Very few Teals 

 are met with in the south of Scotland in summer ; but from 

 the Tay northward, some are to be found scattered here and 

 there, generally in sequestered parts of the moorlands, and 

 even in the glens of the central tracts of mountain-land. Two 

 of my i)upils found a brood at Loch Callater, in Braemar, in 

 the end of July, 1849. One of them, Mr. James Farquharson, 

 writes : — " As Ave were returning from a botanical excursion 

 in Glen Callater, and walking along the margin of the marshy 

 ground at the head of the loch, we raised from the heather a 

 female Teal (Querquedula Crecca), with a bi'ood of seven or 

 eight young ones. The old one immediately flew to a deep 

 pool close by ; there she swam about, apparently in great 

 anxiety, until all her offspring had scrambled through the 

 heather to her ; and, though not very expert on land, they 

 proved to be brave swimmers, and quickly sheltered them- 

 selves among the long grass growing at the margin of the 

 pool, where we left them unmolested. The gamekeeper in the 

 glen informed us that another pair had bred there that season." 



