224 EEMimSCENCES OF A SPORTSMAN. 



the tenderest stalks of the rushes, with the addition of 

 pith and a quantity of feathers. The nest is of a large 

 size, and placed on the water, so as to rise and fall with 

 it ; the eggs, to the number of from twelve to seventeen, 

 are as large as those of a pigeon, of a dirty white, marked 

 with small hazel spots. According to St. John, they 

 sometimes hatch their yotmg a considerable distance 

 from the water, and lead the young brood immediately 

 to it. He says : " Whilst riding in Eoss-shire I saw an 

 old teal with eight newly hatched young ones cross the 

 road. The youngsters could not climb up the opposite 

 bank, and young and old all squatted flat to allow me to 

 pass. I got off my horse, and lifted all the little birds 

 and carried them a little distance down the road to a 

 ditch, for which I concluded they were making ; the old 

 bird all the time fluttering about me, and frequently 

 coming within reach of my riding whip. The part of the 

 road where I first saw them passed through thick fir wood 

 with rank heather, and it was quite a puzzle to me how 

 such small animals, scarcely bigger than a half-grown 

 mouse, could have got along through it. The next day 

 I saw them all enjoying themselves in a small pond at 

 some little distance off, where a brood of teal appeared 

 every year." 



The teal feeds on the grass and weeds which grow on 

 the edges of the waters it frequents ; it is also fond of the 

 seed of rushes, and small fish, and the various insects 

 found in stagnant pools. In Scotland the teal are 

 rarely seen in the winter, but in the spring they come 

 in considerable numbers to breed in the swamps and 

 lochs. The teal flies with great swiftness, rising sud- 

 denly into the air when disturbed, and dropping sud- 

 denly after taking a short flight, much in the same way 



