TEAL. 283 



and remaining with us till spring has made considerable 

 progress ; their numbers are constantly recruited through 

 the winter months by additional arrivals from the northern 

 parts of Europe, and our markets in consequence obtain 

 a regular supply from the various decoys and other modes 

 of capture. Although numbers in spring return again 

 to more northern localities to breed, many remain in this 

 country, and pass the summer near fresh-water lakes. That 

 some of these breed here, also, in suitable localities, is 

 proved by the fact that, in the summer of 1817, Mr. 

 Youell, of Yarmouth, had four young birds of the Teal 

 brought to him, which were hatched at Reedham, in Nor- 

 folk. The authors of the Catalogue of Norfolk and Suffolk 

 Birds say also, that very small ones have been observed 

 in company with their parents upon Ranworth Broad, by 

 Mr. Kerrison, of that place ; and that they breed also on 

 Scoulton Mere. The Rev. Richard Lubbock, of Norfolk, 

 in his note to me on this species, says, " The Teal must, 

 in some years, either breed abundantly with us, or mi- 

 grate hither very early; I have known sixty or seventy 

 Teal come in small parties to the same plash of water at 

 sundown, by the first week in August." The Teal bear 

 confinement well, and at the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society, though restricted to a very small pond with a 

 margin of thick and high grass, with some low shrubs, 

 have bred regularly for five seasons in succession. The 

 eggs are white tinged with buff, measuring one inch nine 

 lines in length, by one inch four lines in breadth. The 

 food of the Teal consists of seeds, grasses, water plants, 

 and insects in their various states. In confinement they 

 require grain. Some Teal breed about the lakes of Wales, 

 and a few in Romney Marsh. Mr. Selby, who has paid 

 attention to the habits of this species in Northumberland, 

 says, " Our indigenous broods, I am inclined to think, 



