366 COMMON TEAL. 



The Common Teal shows very little shyness in its 

 habits, and will allow itself to be approached quite 

 closely and w^atched. It is excessively fast on the wing. 



Their habits and food are similar to those of the rest 

 of this family ; they live upon aquatic insects, young 

 blades and shoots, and various seeds and weeds. 



This bird is the smallest of our Ducks and has very 

 pretty plumage. The head and neck are chestnut, 

 chin black, and a broad purplish green stripe with a 

 narrow white edge runs from the eyes down each side 

 of the neck ; the tail feathers are brown, edged with 

 white, and the general colour of the body is greyish 

 white covered with close zigzag lines of black ; the 

 breast is white spotted with black, and the wings are 

 made up of grey, brown, yellow, and green. 



The Common Teal breeds in marshy and swampy 

 moorland districts, either in the open or amongst 

 trees ; it seems to prefer haunts removed from culti- 

 vation, and here it places its nest amongst the long 

 grass, rushes, or heather, sometimes concealed be- 

 neath a willow bush or overhanging rushes. The nest 

 is built of dead grass and sedge and various other vege- 

 table substances ; it is very deep, and lined with a 

 plentiful supply of down, with which the bird will 

 cover the eggs when it leaves the nest. 



The eggs of the Duck family are so similar that 

 this down found in their nests forms one of the best 

 means of distinguishing between them. The eggs of 

 the Common Teal are eight to ten in number, huffish 

 white or cream coloured ; they are, of course, much 

 smaller than eggs of the Common Wild Duck or Mal- 

 lard, which are the eggs most likely to be met with by 

 young collectors, and they lack the green tint of these 

 latter. 



