SEA-rOWL SHOOTING. 137 



amount to six or seven in number. They are of a dull white coloiu-, 

 freckled witli small brownish spots. Some have been known to 

 lay twelve eggs. Buffon says, that numbers of young teal are seen 

 in poolsj feeding on cresses, wild chervil, &c., and, imques- 

 tionably, as they grow up, they feed, Hke other ducks, on the 

 various seeds, grasses, and water plants, as well as upon the 

 smaller animated beings with which all stagnant waters are so 

 abundantly stored. The bird is highly extolled for the excellency 

 of its flavoiu'. 



We have already remarked, that teal shooting is considered a 

 crack amusement. Colonel Hawker says, " Of all the prizes that 

 a wild-fowl shooter could wish to meet with, a flock of teal is the 

 very first. Independently of their being by far the best birds of 

 the whole anas tribe, they are so much easier of access, and require 

 such a slight blow, that no matter whether you are prepared for 

 wild-fowl, or partridge, or snipe, you may at most times, with very 

 little trouble, continue to get near them ; and this being once done, 

 you have only to shoot straight to be pretty sure of kilhng. * * * 

 If you spring a teal, he will not soar up, and leave the country like 

 a wild duck, but most probably will keep along the brook like a 

 sharp flying woodcock, and then drop suddenly down; but you 

 must keep your eye on the place, as he is very apt to get up again, 

 and fly to another before he will quietly settle. He will frequently, 

 too, swim down stream the moment after he drops ;^ so that, if you 

 do not cast your eye quickly that way, instead of continuing to 

 look for him in one spot, he will probably catch sight of you, and 

 ly up, while your attention is directed to the wrong place." 



Teal are seldom seen -in any quantities ; scarcely ever more than 

 ten or twenty are assembled together, and this only m stormy 

 weather, and in certain favourite localities near the coast, or the 

 edges of a sheet of water, whose edges are fringed with long grass, 

 or brushwood. They are comparatively a solitary bird ; they con- 

 fine themselves chiefly to famihes ; and it is only in this way that 

 they are interesting to the sportsman. A man may range a consi- 

 derable section of marshy country, and not see more than a pair or 

 two of teals. In all the moor and boggy districts m the north of 

 England they are to be met with ; but as we have just said, never 

 in any quantities. . . 



There is a large portion of wild-fowl shooting carried on as a 

 matter of business and trafiic, and not properly of sport. This is 

 chiefly confined to the low districts of the coast, where bn-ds ot the 

 duck kind especially congregate in immense quantities, at certain 

 seasons of the vear. Many persons gain a good livelihood by this kmd 

 of shooting. The following is substantially the account of the matter, 

 relative to the Hampshire coast, and the Isle of Wight, which Mr. 

 Gilpin gives. The coast between Hampshire and the Isle ot Wight 

 is peculiar, consisting at ebb-tide of vast muddy flats, covered with 

 green seaweed ; it afl'ords the fowler an opportumty of practising 

 arts perhaps not elsewhere resorted to. Eowlmg and fishmg are, 



