948 LTARNE V—TEAL 
TARNEY, TARRACK and TARRET, said to be local names 
of the common TERN; but the second, spelt 
TARROCK, is generally used for the KiTTrwakE (p. 492) in 
immature plumage. 
TARSEL and TASSEL (Romeo and Juliet, ii. 2, 160) corruptions 
of TERCEL. 
TARSUS, in common descriptive ornithology the third and 
most conspicuous portion of the Bird’s leg, whence the toes spring. 
For its actual composite nature see SKELETON (p. 864). 
TATLER, ‘a name applied in North America to various species 
of SANDPIPER (p. 810); but generally with a distinctive prefix. Its 
first recognition as an ornithological term seems to be in 1831 by 
Richardson and Swainson (Faun. Bor.-Amer, ii. p. 388), but it was 
probably used before colloquially (¢/. TELLTALE). 
TEAL (Old English Tele), a word of uncertain origin, but 
doubtless cognate with the Dutch Zaling (formerly Talingh and 
Telingh), and this apparently with the Scandinavian Atteling- And 
(Briinnich, Orn. Bor. p. 18) and Atling, which it seems impossible 
not to connect with the Scottish 
ATTEAL (p. 22), though this last 
word (however it be spelt) is gener- 
ally used in conjunction with Teal, 
as if to mean a different kind of 
bird ; and commentators have shewn 
a marvellous ineptitude in surmising 
what that bird was. 
The Teal is the Anas ecrecca of 
Linneus, and the smallest of the 
European Anatide (Duck, p. 168), 
as well as one of the most abundant and highly esteemed for the 
table. It breeds in many parts of the British Islands, making its 
nest in places very like those chosen by the Wild Duck, 4. boscas ; 
but there is no doubt that by far the greater number of those that 
are taken in decoys, or are shot, during the autumn and winter are 
of foreign origin. While the female presents the usual inconspicuous 
mottled plumage of the same sex in most species of Anatinx, the male 
is one of the handsomest of his kind; but too well known to need 
description. It inhabits almost the whole of Europe and Asia, 
from Iceland to Japan,—in winter visiting Northern Africa and 
India, and occasionally occurring on the western shores of the 
Atlantic ; but its place in North America is taken by its repre- 
sentative, 4. carolinensis, the male of which is easily to be recognized 
1881, p. 435) to be sufficiently remarkable (cf. Sclater, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xv. pp. 
329-336). 
Bitu or Test. (After Swainson.) 
