BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 129 



United States. They come in large flocks, and frequent 

 the inland lakes and rivers, feeding upon insects and 

 tender plants and grasses. Wherever the wild rice 

 grows, there, in autumn, are these Teal found, and they 

 scatter themselves throughout the matted growth 

 of this plant, which frequently spreads over a large 

 portion of the bottoms of many of our western 

 lakes and rivers. Here the Teal are safe so long 

 as they remain in the interior of the beds, for 

 nothing of the earth or air can reach them as 

 they paddle about hidden in the deep recesses of 

 the wild rice. They feed upon the ripened grains 

 that fall upon the water, or dig them out of the 

 mud upon the bottom, and become exceedingly fat. I 

 know no better bird for the table than a Blue-winged 

 Teal fattened upon wild rice. Many are killed by 

 sportsmen stationing themselves just within the bor- 

 ders of these rice beds, and shooting the birds as they fly 

 over or around, looking for a favorable place to settle. 

 When feeding the members of a flock keep as near to- 

 gether as possible, and rarely utter any sound, each one 

 too intent apparently upon his own affairs to indulge in 

 the pleasures of conversation. When startled it rises 

 from the water by a single spring, and the flight is ex- 

 ceedingly rapid, and it has the habit of turning alter- 

 nately to the observer the upper and lower surface of the 

 body as it speeds along, rolling, in fact, in a similar man- 

 ner to a boat in the trough of the waves. This species 

 utters at times a lisping note when on the wing, and 

 should it perceive a desirable place for feeding, or a num- 

 ber of its fellows congregated together, it drops suddenly 

 into the water, without making any elaborate prepara- 

 tion to alight, but simply stops at once. I have never 

 found it a shy bird, for it usually allowed me to approach 



