TEAL. 37 



When the drakes are courting the low double whistles run into 

 a musical jumble, a delightful chorus. The duck, especially 

 when alarmed, has a short harsh quack. In nuptial display 

 a favoured duck, ready for admirers, is surrounded by several 

 drakes, who constantly raise themselves in the water, shooting 

 up the head and neck and lowering it at once, with an action 

 that suggests a hiccough ; for a second the facial glories are 

 displayed, and as the bird resumes its normal pose it exposes 

 the long white side streak. During this competitive exhibi- 

 tion the whole flock will rise for a flight round the lake, and 

 after wheeling, turning, and twisting, return to the display ; 

 both rival drakes and ducks from time to time chase one 

 another with open bill, but there is no serious fighting. These 

 displays may be witnessed in autumn, but from January to 

 April the birds are really busy. 



The nest, of the ordinary duck type, may be in a marsh, a 

 dry wood, or amongst heather on a moor ; it is lined with very 

 dark down with hardly noticeable pale tips. The creamy eggs 

 (Plate 13) are often tinged with green ; they are usually eight 

 to ten, but sometimes more in number, and are laid between 

 April and June. The young have light chocolate down, 

 yellowish buff beneath, and a dark line passes from the eye 

 to the ear and thence down the side of the neck, and a second 

 borders the cheek. When the duck is alarmed for the safety of 

 her brood her behaviour is often extravagant. On one occasion 

 I scattered a brood of ducklings which at once vanished in the 

 rushes, but the anxious mother flew and swam opposite so long 

 as I watched, constantly calling whelp, whelp. In her short 

 flights with head curiously held back, her almost upright body 

 hung heavily, and she repeatedly dropped on the water, flogging 

 it with her wings. The white bars on her wings showed more 

 conspicuously than usual, as if intentionally exhibited to catch 

 the eye. 



The main points of the drake plumage are described above. 



