492 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
countries further to the south; a few, however, do 
remain to breed in England, and specimens occa- 
sionally occur in the autumn, and even in the winter. 
This bird does not appear to proceed very far to the 
north in its wanderings, not being included amongst 
the birds of Orkney or Shetland ;* Captain Hadfield, 
however, in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1864 (p. 9169), 
mentions having seen a small flock of Garganey Teal 
on the north-east coast of Scotland, on the 14th of 
December. 
This bird may easily be kept in confinement and 
becomes very tame; it may then be fed upon any 
sort of grain: in a wild state its food appears to 
consist of insects and their larve, small worms, 
small fry of fish, frogs and spawn, roots and shoots 
of aquatic plants, grasses and other vegetables of 
various descriptions, and grain.t 
The place chosen for the nest appears to be much 
the same as that generally chosen by the Wild Duck, 
but I do not know that it ever selects the exalted 
positions sometimes resorted to by that bird. 
Though not so brightly coloured as the Mallard 
or Common Teal, the drake is nevertheless a very 
beautifully marked bird. The bill is brown; the 
irides hazel; the top of the head and nape very 
dark brown with a few pale streaks; immediately 
* Yarrell, vol. i11., p. 279. 
+ Meyer's ‘ British Birds,’ vol. vi., p. 105. 
