ANATID 2. 495 
to a very small pond, with a margin of thick high 
grass and low shrubs. 
In its wild state the Teal is said to breed in the 
long rushy herbage about the edges of lakes, or in 
the boggy parts of upland moors. ‘The nest is 
formed of a large mass of decayed vegetable matter, 
with a lining of down and feathers.* 
The food of the Teal consists of seeds, grasses, 
water plants, and insects in their various states.t 
In confinement it may be kept on barley and other 
grain. 
This is the smallest and one of the most beautiful 
of the Ducks. The beak is nearly black; the irides 
hazel; the forehead, top of the head, cheeks, back of 
the neck and throat rich reddish bay; round the eye, 
reaching to the back of the neck, is a largish patch 
of glossy green, broadest immediately behind the 
eye, and narrowing to nothing at the back of the 
neck; round the base of the upper mandible, and 
running from thence to the green patch—the fore 
part of which it surrounds both above and below— 
is a narrow line of white; back, scapulars, flanks and 
thighs pencilled with zigzag lines of black on a white 
ground, giving the whole a greyish appearance ; from 
the scapulars lying backwards are some longish 
feathers of a rich buff, and others close to them of 
black ; rump and tail-coverts greyish brown, some of 
* Yarrell, vol. i., p. 284. + Idi, p: 288. 
2U2 
