NETTION PUNCTATUM. 



HOTTENTOT TEAI.. 



(Plate 58.) 



Anas punctata, Burchell, Travels, i, p. 283 (1822) ; Reichenow, Vogel 

 Afrikas, i, p. 120 (1900-01). 



Qtierquedula hottentotta, Sharpe's ed. Layard Birds of S. Afr., p. 757 

 (1875-84) ; Nicolls & Eglington, Sportsman in S. Afr., p. 128 

 (1892). 



Nettion punctatum, Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 265 

 (1895). 



Nettion punctatus, Sclater, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., in, p. 352 (1905) ; 

 Sclater & Stark, Birds of S. Afr., iv, p. 139 (1906). 



Description. The bird figured is an adult male. The sexes are 

 alike, but the female is not quite so brightly coloured. Young 

 birds have fawn-coloured breasts without spots or bars. Length 

 about 14 in. 



DiSTEiBXJTiON. This pretty little Teal is found all through Uganda 

 and British East Africa, and extends southward through Nyassa- 

 land to Cape Colony. It is nowhere very common, but it pro- 

 bably is not so rare as is thought, for owing to its small size and 

 retiring habits it is frequently overlooked. 



I HAVE killed a good many Hottentot Teal both in the 

 Transvaal and in the Orange River Colony, and consider it 

 is one of the tamest and most sluggish little birds I have 

 ever met with. 



The first pair I saw were on a tiny pond some twenty 

 yards across, and they were so friendly that I took them for 

 hand-reared birds, and naturally did not shoot them. Some 

 days later, four or five of us surrounded a big pan that 

 held a lot of ducks, and after firing some twenty or tliirty 



137 



