TEAL. 183 



also mentioning Kanworth Broad and Scoulton Mere as 

 breeding places. It is well known now that a consider- 

 able number of teal breed yearly in the neighbourhood 

 of the inland waters of Scoulton, Wretham, Stanford, 

 and other places, as well as in the Broad district proper. 

 Mr. Lubbock speaks of young teal being found on Scul- 

 thorpe Moor, near Fakenham, and of their breeding in 

 1838, near the river between Harling and Larlingford ; 

 also [in 1840] at Old Buckenham Fen, near Attleborough, 

 whilst the latter part of the country remained unchanged 

 by drainage and the enclosure of waste lands. A pair 

 used to breed annually at Hempstead, near Holt, where 

 the decoy mentioned by Miss Gurney was situated ; 

 they also breed regularly at Winterton. The nest of 

 the teal is a very snug structure, plentifully lined with 

 the dark- coloured down from the old bird's breast ; 

 it is generally placed in rather a dry situation, and 

 sometimes in a tussock of grass or heather, or at the 

 bottom of a whin bush, and the first eggs are generally 

 laid about the middle of April. On the 22nd of April, 

 1867, the late Rev. T. J. Blofeld found a teal's nest 

 placed in an alder stumj), profusely lined with down, 

 and filling up the centre of the stool ; it contained eleven 

 eggs. Mr. Blofeld remarks that, although he knew 

 this species must breed at Hoveton, from having fre- 

 quently killed the young in June and July, this was the 

 first nest he had ever seen there. On the 13th May 

 I saw a teal's nest at Eanworth containing ten eggs, 

 from which the keeper had taken two pheasant's eggs ; 

 another nest, near the same place, which was destroyed 

 by rats, had also contained two pheasant's eggs. Mr. 

 Norgate saw a teal's nest, on the 19th April, on Santon 

 Warren, which contained eight teal's, one duck's, and 

 several pheasant's eggs. The old bird is very much 

 attached to the nest, especially when near hatching. 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., once found a nest at Hemp- 

 stead, on June 13th, containing ten eggs, on which the 

 old bird " sat like a stone " till he almost trod on her; 

 and a good many years ago, in Invernesshire, I actually 

 removed a teal from her nest with my hand, so close did 

 she sit. The stratagems resorted to by this pretty little 

 duck to draw off the attention of the intruder from its 



