Poachers and Poaching. 



common wild duck feeds upon floating grasses, 

 grain, insects, and worms ; a well-grown mallard 

 sometimes weighs three pounds. 



The teal is the smallest of the wild ducks, 

 and is an exquisitely-formed and prettily-marked 

 species. It is dear to the fowler as the gourmet, 

 for it is easily decoyed or stalked, and when 

 procured affords delicate eating. Many a time 

 does the heart of the shore-shooter warm as he 

 hears the whistle of a bunch of teal, and sees 

 them drop down like a plummet. They love 

 to haunt the margins of fresh-water streams and 

 lakes, and when put away from these rise rapidly 

 and as though they had been shot from the water. 

 It is only when their inland resorts are hard frozen 

 that they are driven to the sea, and once here 

 every art of the fowler is used in coming up with 

 them. As many as eighty -five and upon another 

 occasion one hundred and six teal have been 

 picked up after a well-directed shot from a 

 punt-gun the former by Sir Ralph Payne-Gall- 

 wey, the latter off the Irish coast. Both shots 

 were at flying birds. The teal is an early breeder, 

 and being resident is among the first of the ducks 

 seen on the decoys, and with the mallard is the 

 species most abundantly taken. It is liable to 

 the same sexual change in the breeding season, 

 and during the time it has young is most affec- 

 tionate in tending them. An anecdote is related 

 of how a country lad having fallen in with a brood 



