184 BIRDS OF NORFOLK, 



brood exhibit a charming display of maternal affection ; 

 the little ones, too, have a marvellous power of conceal- 

 ment. On one occasion I disturbed an old teal which 

 was brooding over a large family : off went the old 

 bird, fluttering away as if in the last agonies of death, 

 and the young scattered in all directions, but keep- 

 ing my eye fixed on one particular baby teal, I saw it 

 squat down a few yards off, its neck stretched out and 

 its little body close to the ground where some dead oak 

 leaves were lying, the concealment so perfect that had 

 I not actually seen it assume the position I should most 

 certainly never have detected it, nor did it stir from the 

 spot till I stooped and took it up in my hand. 



Mr. Lubbock mentions that in 1842 a teal was seen 

 at Ranworth with twelve young ones, which, he adds, is 

 far the most numerous brood he ever heard of; but 

 Salmon, in his diary, states that in May, 1835, he fouad 

 a nest at Stanford with sixteen eggs. I think, however, 

 the number of eggs rarely exceeds nine or ten. As 

 soon as the young birds are able to fly they desert the 

 marshes and congregate on the Broads and open waters, 

 where they remain till they are forced to leave by stress 

 of weather, and their places are taken by migrants from 

 the north. 



Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., tells me that some years ago 

 Mr. Dack, a bird stuffer, of Holt, had a teal with a 

 distinct white ring round its neck like a mallard, and 

 that he has seen two others, not Norfolk-killed, with 

 considerable indications of a similar ring. 



The note of the male teal is a clear musical whistle ; 

 the voice of the female, however, although, perhaps, 

 not inharmonious, is decidedly unmusical. 



The so-called *^ Bimaculated duck," now recognised 

 as a hybrid between this species and the wigeon, is 

 believed to have occurred in Norfolk, a specimen, said 

 to have been sent from Yarmouth, having been pur- 

 chased by Mr. Jones in Leadenhall Market, on the 9th 

 December, 1846. It is described by that gentleman in 

 the " Zoologist " for 1847, p. 1698 ; and subsequently 

 noticed by Mr. W. R. Fisher, with an illustration, in the 

 same magazine for 1848, p. 2026. 



