TEAL 233 



breeding-place, not far from that dome-shaped, fir- 

 crowned hill which was my principal landmark. This 

 was a boggy place, thirty or forty acres in extent, 

 surrounded by trees and overgrown with marsh weeds 

 and grasses, and in places with rushes. Cotton grass 

 grew in the drier parts, and the tufts nodding in the 

 wind looked at a distance like silvery white flowers. 

 At one end of the marsh there were clumps of willow 

 and alder, where the reed-bunting was breeding and the 

 grasshopper warbler uttered his continuous whirring 

 sound, which seemed to accord with the singing of the 

 wind in the pines. At the other end there was open 

 water with patches of rushes growing in it ; and here at 

 the water's edge, shaded by a small fir, I composed 

 myself on a bed of heather to watch the birds. 



The inquisitive moor-hens were the first to appear, 

 uttering from time to time their sharp, loud protest. 

 Their suspicion lessened by degrees, but was never 

 wholly laid aside ; and one bird, slyly leaving the water, 

 made a wide circuit and approached me through the 

 trees in order to get a better view of me. A sudden 

 movement on my part, when he was only three yards from 

 me, gave him a terrible fright. Mallards showed them- 

 selves at intervals, swimming into the open water, or 

 rising a few yards above the rushes, then dropping out 

 of sight again. Where the rushes grew thin and 

 scattered, ducklings appeared, swimming one behind 

 the other, busily engaged in snatching insects from the 

 surface. By-and-by a pair of teal rose up, flew straight 



