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Teal The Teal is the smallest of the British ducks, being only 

 fourteen inches in length. The male is in general colour above of 

 a dusky grey, the undersurface of the body creamy white, with the 

 neck and breast rather warmer in tone, and thickly spotted with 

 black, the crown of the head, the face and throat chestnut, the 

 forehead and chin blackish, the eye surrounded by a black band 

 tinted with green and purple, these eye lines are continued to meet 

 at the back of the head, and are bordered by a narrow line of white. 

 In general appearance this little bird is neat and dainty. The 

 species is resident in Great Britain, and is widely distributed. It is 

 more numerous in the north, and in winter its numbers are largely 

 added to by migrants from more northern lands. In summer it 

 resorts to the moors and hillsides to nest, often at a considerable 

 distance from water, the most usual site being out in the open moor, 

 under a clump of heather. In winter it is found in the company of 

 mallards and widgeon, on the lakes and rivers, but is not so often 

 found on the sea shore as are its congeners. A favourite haunt of the 

 Teal is a small reedy pond. Its food consists of certain water plants 

 and th insects and mollusca found in the spots it loves to haunt. 

 The Teal is common in the loch districts of Ireland and Scotland, 

 though never found in large numbers together. The eggs are eight 

 to ten in number, and of a creamy white colour. 



Thrush, Song The Song-Thrush or Mavis is resident with 



us throughout the year, is abundant and widely distributed. Being 

 double and even treble-brooded, this species when, free for a few 

 years from the severity of an exceptionally hard winter, rapidly 

 increases in numbers, but it is a somewhat delicate bird, and when 

 th iron hand of the " Frost King " binds the land for week after 

 week in his impenetrable grasp, the Song-Thrush, unable to procure 

 its necessary food, dies in thousands. The bird is olive-brown above, 

 with breast of cream-colour daintily spotted with black. The nest, 

 built early in the year, is neatly plastered round inside with mud, 

 thus forming for the eggs a warm protection from the biting blasts of 

 early spring. It is placed usually from four to five feet above the 

 ground, within the sheltering cover of some evergreen bush, though 

 occasionally placed upon the ground. The eggs, four or five in 

 number, are of a bright clear blue with tiny spots of black. The 

 Thrush is celebrated in song, and worthily so, as one of the most 

 exquisite of our bird musicians, its liquid note being in beauty equal 

 to that of any of our songsters save possibly the nightingale alone. 



Titmouse, Great This agile and restless bird is a resident in 

 Britain, is distributed widely, and is in many districts comparatively 

 numerous. The Great Tit is about 5^ inches in length. The breast 

 is yellow, divided down the centre by a black line, the back is greyish 

 yellow, the crown of the head and the throat glossy black, with a large 

 white cheek patch, giving the head an appearance from which is 

 derived the name " Ox Eye," by which this bird is also known. The 

 Great Tit is a bird of the woodland, hedgerow, and coppice. In 

 winter it roves about in little bands, oft-times accompanied by 

 numbers of the other species of the same family, and at this season 

 can be attracted to the vicinity of houses by means of a bone, 

 or piece of fat suspended from a string, on which he will alight, per- 

 forming antics of an amusing nature. The food of the Great Tit con- 

 sists chiefly of insects and their eggs and larvae, particularly during 

 the summer months, while in the winter it will feed on seeds and 

 indeed almost anything of an edible kind which comes its way. The 

 nest is usually placed in a hole, very often in a wall, though some- 

 times in a hollow tree, or even among the sticks of the lower part of a 



