THE TEAL. 285 



except Dublin and Carlow. On migration there is a large 

 increase in the numbers of Teal which visit us, and the species 

 is commoner in winter. 



Range outside the British Islands. The range of the present 

 species in summer extends from Iceland throughout Northern 

 Europe and Asia to Bering Island, breeding as far north as 

 70 N. lat. In Southern Europe it is less frequent, though it 

 nests in Madeira and in the Azores, but it is more plentiful in 

 the Mediterranean countries in winter, when it ascends the 

 Nile Valley and visits Abyssinia. In Central Asia and Eastern 

 Siberia the species breeds more sparingly,' but nests abun- 

 dantly in the Commander Islands, and it is a common winter 

 visitor to the Caspian Sea, the Indian Peninsula, China, and 

 the Burmese countries. It is an occasional visitor to Green- 

 land and the Eastern United States, as well as to Alaska. 



Habits. This is the smallest of the English Ducks, and is 

 found in winter in a variety of places, on the lakes consorting 

 with the Mallards and Wigeon, though keeping to itself in 

 small parties, which generally take flight by themselves. At 

 other times Teal may be found singly in water-holes in the 

 marshes. Mr. Seebohm writes : " Its habits differ very little 

 from those of its congeners ; perhaps it might be said that the 

 Teal is more partial to small reedy ponds, and less fond of 

 visiting the mud-banks on the sea-shore than its relations; 

 but its food is the same mixture of animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances. Its quack, or alarm-note, is very similar to that of 

 the Garganey, and may be represented by the syllable knake> 

 but the call-note of both sexes is a sharp krik, and in the pair- 

 ing-season the drake utters a harsh grating noise. It is quite 

 as gregarious as its congeners." 



Like the Mallard, the Teal often builds its nest at some 

 distance from water, and Lord Lilford says that he feels sure 

 that, in such instances, it "carries its young to the splashy 

 spots in which it delights." 



Nest. Does not differ from that of the other Ducks, and is 

 lined with down. As an instance of the early nesting of the 

 Teal, Mr. Robert Read writes to me : " I have taken the nest 

 of the Teal in May, under a tuft of heather on a hillside over- 

 looking a fresh-water loch in Scotland. In the same locality 



