136 SHOOTING. 



exertion, patience, and_ the concurrence of favourable circum- 

 stances, even to do this. These birds seem to have powerful 

 instincts that man is their natural enemy. 



The Teal {Anas Crecca, Lmn.). — This is one of the most favourite 

 of the duck tribe among sportsmen. It is a beautiful bird, and 

 admirabl)^ proportioned. It is about twelve ounces in weight, and 

 is fifteen inclies in length, and twenty-four in breadth. The bill is ; 

 dark, tipped with white. The irides are pale ; and a glossy bottle- 

 green patch, fringed on the upper side with pale brown, and 

 beneath with cream-coloured white, covers each eye, and extends 

 to the nape of the neck. The rest of the head, and the upper part 

 of the neck, are of a deep reddish chestnut, darkest in the forehead, 

 and freckled on the chin and about the eyes with cream-coloui-ed 

 spots. The_ hinder part of the neck, the shoulders, part of the 

 scapulars, sides under the wings, and lower belly towards the vent, 

 are elegantly pencilled with black, ash-brown, and white traversed ! 

 waved lines. The breast, gradually_ resembling the beautifully \ 

 spotted appearance of an Indian shell, is of a pale brown or reddish 

 yellow, and each feather is tipped with a roundish heart-shaped 

 black spot. The belly is a cream-coloured white. The quills, lesser 

 and greater coverts, are brown, and the last are deeply tipped with 

 wliite, wliichform a bar across the wings. The first six of the 

 secondary quills are of a fine velvet black, wliile those next to 

 them towards the scapulars are of the most resplendent glossy 

 green, and both are tipped with white, formmg the divided black 

 and green bar, or beauty-spot of the wmgs. 



The tail consists of fourteen feathers of a hoary-brown colour, 

 with pale edges. The legs and feet are of a dirty lead colour. The 

 female, which is less than the male, is prettily freckled about the 

 head and neck with brown and white. She has not the green 

 patch between the eyes, but a brown streak supplies its place, , 

 whicli_ extends itself to the nape of the neck. The crown of the 

 head is dark brown. The upper mandible yellow on the edges, 

 olive green on the sides, and olive bro^vn on the ridge. The nail 

 is black, and the under bill yellow. The breast and oelly are of a 

 glossy yellowish white, spotted irregularly with brown. The upper 

 plumage is dark brown, each feather is bordered with rusty brown, 

 and fringed with gray. The wmgs and legs are nearly the' same as ! 

 those of the male bird. 



Teals are common in most parts of Great Britain in the winter 

 months, but it is not very well ascertamed whether they remain 

 throughout the year to breed, as is the case in Prance. We have 

 seen ourselves about a dozen nests of these birds during the last 

 forty years, but not more. The female makes a large nest com- 

 posed of soft dried gTasses, lined with feathers, cunnmgly concenled 

 m a hole among the roots of weeds and bnhushes near the edge of 

 the water ; and some naturalists have asserted, that the nest, in 

 some cases, actually rests on the surface of the water, so as to rise 

 and fall with it. The eggs are of the size of those of a pigeon, and 



