252 DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS. 



while the bill, which is depressed in form in the Mallard as well 

 as in the Common Duck, is convex, with projecting laminae, in the 

 Teal. Such is the case with the Blue-winged Teal of North 

 America, in which the laminae of the upper bill project nearly as 

 much as in the Gad wall, while the upper mandible exhibits that 

 sinuosity at the base which is seen in no other Duck except the 

 Shoveller." 



Mr. Selby says of the Common Teal : " I am inclined to think 

 that our indigenous breeds seldom quit the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the places in which they are bred, as I have repeatedly 

 observed them to haunt the same district from the time of their 

 being hatched till they separated and paired on the approach of 

 the following spring. The Teal breeds in the long rushy herbage 

 about the edges of lakes, or on the boggy parts of upland moors." 

 Very few of them are found, according to Mr. McGillivray, in the 

 south of Scotland during the summer months. In winter, one of 

 his correspondents informs him, it unites in large flocks, the Drakes 

 having then a whistle like the Plover ; but it has not been heard 

 to use this call during the breeding season. The boldness of the 

 female in defence of her young is very affecting. Mr. St. John 

 describes an instance which occurred in Ross-shire. He was riding 

 along when an old Teal, with eight newly-hatched young ones, 

 crossed the road. The youngsters could not climb the bank, and all 

 squatted flat down while he passed. He dismounted, and carried 

 all the young ones a little distance down the road to a ditch, the 

 old bird fluttering about all the time, and frequently coming within 

 reach of his whip. The part of the road where he found them 

 passed through a thick fir- wood covered with rank heather, and it 

 was a great puzzle to him how such little things, scarcely bigger 

 than a mouse, could have struggled through it. Next day he saw 

 them all enjoying themselves in a pond a little distance off, where 

 a brood of Teal appeared every year. 



Teal are less timid than the Wild Duck, and the sportsman, there- 

 fore, has not the same difficulty in getting within shot of them. 

 They breed in great numbers in some of the Highland lochs, 

 and Mr. St. John says that in August he has seen perfect clouds 

 of them rise from some calm, glassy lake at the report of a gun. 



