220 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



confine themselves to salt water and the neighbourhood 

 of the coast. 



Teal are most numerous during" August, September, 

 and October — that is on the smaller loughs to which these 

 notes chiefly refer. At that season, one may fall in with teal 

 at any little moss-pool or green spring-head. It is one of 

 the agreeable surprises of autumn days on the moor, when 

 from some unsuspected bit of bog or marshy drain, spring 

 a couple of these light-winged wildfowl. Later in the 

 year, teal are met with but rarely and irregularly, and then 

 in small numbers — often but a single bird or perhaps a 

 couple together. Teal are impatient of cold. 



Tufted ducks appear as early as September ; local-bred 

 birds almost certainly. On the 9th, my brother Alfred 

 and I shot two out of three on Haydon-fell lough- — an 

 adult duck with complete white front and golden irides, 

 and a young drake with brown irides and a few scattered 

 white feathers on forehead. The heads of both were dark 

 brown ; but the adult was pure white beneath, while the 

 other was mottled throughout. From September onwards, 

 we frequently met with the tufted duck at this lough, which 

 lies in the neighbourhood of the Northumberland lakes, 

 where they are numerous. This species prefers the lower- 

 lying waters, seldom appearing on the high peat loughs, 

 though on October 15th (1890), we fell in with a pack of a 

 score on Darden lough (1200 feet), of which three were 

 secured — two drakes and a duck 1 — the first seen there 

 during fifteen years. 



1 These ducks displayed an interesting phase of plumage. Though all 

 three were nearly adult (irides being yellow), they were not quite so — being 

 probably in their second year. The heads of the drakes, though black, 

 lacked the full bright lustre of perfect maturity^ and the clean-cut edge to 

 their " waistcoats " was still wanting. Their "tufts " were of medium length, 

 and one (the least advanced) retained a few tiny white feathers under the chin. 



