u.vltGANEV TEAL. 1 t-3 



about April : it incubates in the temperate regions, 

 constructing its nest of thick herbs and shrubs in 

 the damp meadows, the female laying about a dozen 

 yellow-green eggs. It feeds upon small slugs, in- 

 sects, and worms, also upon aquatic plants and their 

 seeds, and occasionally upon small fishes. 



Frisch relates the following detail respecting a 

 couple of these birds, that were for upwards of two 

 months in his possession. " I presented to them (he 

 says) different seeds, and they would touch none ; 

 but scarcely had I set beside their water-trough a 

 basin filled with millet, than they both ran to it. At 

 every bill-full which they took, each went to the 

 water, and they carried as much of it in a short time 

 as completely to soak the millet ; yet the grain was 

 not moistened sufficiently to their mind, and I saw 

 them busied in carrying millet and water to the 

 ground of their pen, which was of clay ; and when 

 the bottom was softened and tempered enough, they 

 began to dabble, and made a pretty deep cavity, in 

 which they ate their millet, mixed with earth. I put 

 them in a room, and they carried in the same way, 

 though to little purpose, the millet and water to the 

 deal floor. I led them on the grass, and they seemed 

 to do nothing but dig for seeds, without eating the 

 blades, or even earth-worms. They pursued flies, 

 and snapped at them like Ducks. When I delayed 

 to give them their accustomed food, they called for 

 it with a feeble hoarse cry, quoak, repeated every 

 minute. In the evening they lay in the corner ; and 

 even during the day, when any person went near 

 them, they hid themselves in the narrowest holes. 



v. xii. p. ii. 10 



