546 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Atlantic coasts of North America. It is a regular summer visitor to 

 Iceland^ and passes the Faroes ou migration. It breeds in great numbers 

 throughout Northern Europe and Asia as far nortli as lat. 70°. South of 

 the Arctic circle it is much rarer, though it breeds on the Azores and 

 Madeira, very rarely in South Europe, but more commonly in Holland, 

 Germany, Denmark, and South Scandinavia. In Turkestan, Mongolia, 

 and the valley of the Amoor it is principally known on migration, but a 

 few remain to breed. It winters sparingly on the coasts of Europe south 

 and west of the Baltic, but more abundantly in the basin of the Mediter- 

 ranean, occurring in North-west Africa as far south as the Canary Islands, 

 and in North-east Africa as far south as Abyssinia. It also winters in the 

 basins of the Black and Caspian Seas, and in Persia, India, Ceylon, Burma, 

 China, and Japan. In Eastern Siberia the Common Teal is partially 

 replaced by the Baikal Teal, Anas glocitans, an allied species, principally 

 differing in having no chestnut on the head, which winters in Eastern India, 

 China, and Japan. On the American continent our Teal is represented 

 by a still more closely allied species, the American Teal [A. carolinensis) , 

 which, as it has occurred in the British Islands, will be treated of in the 

 following article. 



The Teal is no exception to the rule that the larger a bird is the more 

 timid and wary are its actions. It is the smallest European Duck and at 

 the same time the tamest. It often swims in and out amongst the reeds, 

 fearlessly allowing itself to be watched at a comparatively short distance, 

 but once on the wing it almost rivals the Garganey in the dashing rapidity 

 of its flight. Although it migrates far into the Arctic regions, where it 

 arrives with the first flights of migratory Ducks, before the rivers have been 

 broken up into pack-ice, breeding much further north than the Mallard, it 

 is less courageous than the larger species in braving the storms and snows of 

 winter. In Germany the Teal is almost as rare in winter as in summer ; 

 probably a few scattered pairs remain to breed in most summers, and in 

 mild winters it occasionally remains in sheltered situations ; but during the 

 two periods of migration it is a very common and widely distributed bird. 

 The spring migration in North Germany lasts from the 1st of March to the 

 1st of May, and that of autumn from the end of September to the middle 

 of November. Its habits differ very little from those of its congeners ; 

 perhaps it might be said that the Teal is more partial to small reedy ponds 

 and less fond of visiting the mud-banks on the sea-shore than its relations ; 

 but its food is the same mixture of animal and vegetable substances. Its 

 quack or alarm-note is very similar to that of the Garganey, and may be 

 represented by the syllable knake ; but the call-note of both sexes is a sharp 

 krik, and in the pairing-season the drake utters a harsh grating note. It 

 is quite as gregarious as its congeners, and sometimes on migration the 

 flocks of Teal are very large. Like the Wigeon and the Pintail, the Teal 



