TEAL. 25 



In Orkney, though a resident throughout the year, it is by 

 no means numerous, but is most plentiful during winter: some 

 stay to build in the summer. In Ireland also, it is a common 

 and indigenous species; the same remark applies to Scotland. 



The situations it frequents are the edges of rivers, lakes, 

 pools, ponds, and streams, watery meadows, wet stubble-fields, 

 and ditches, especially where flags and rushes afford both a 

 natural screen from observation, and a supply of food; cultivated 

 and uncultivated districts, provided that these requirements 

 are supplied, are equally sought. 



It is a migratory species, appearing by the middle or end 

 of September, and remaining till the middle of March. They 

 travel, for the most part, in large flocks, and chiefly by night, 

 though large numbers are also seen moving in the daytime; 

 in either case at a high elevation. 



These birds are fonder of lochs and inland waters than of 

 the sea-side. They are not very shy, and I have seen them 

 on a pond adjoining a public highroad, namely, at Burton- 

 Agnes, near Burlington. They have a habit, like the Jack 

 Snipe, when put up, of flying round and round in circles, 

 returning to the same place, after a short flight, unless when 

 disturbed in the morning, in which case they rise up high 

 in the air, and fly off. During the day they repose on the 

 water, or near to its brink, with the head drawn back between 

 the shoulders, or hidden under the feathers. They leave for 

 their feeding-places immediately after sunset. These birds are 

 excellent eating. They do well in confinement, and have 

 bred in the gardens of the Zoological Society. The males 

 assemble in small parties, in the latter part of the season, 

 before the females and the young make their appearance. 



They fly very lightly and well, and, when in flocks, both 

 in single line and the form of a triangle. They run very 

 nimbly and cleverly among reeds and other long herbage. 



They make their food of barley, oats, and grain generally; 

 duck-weed and other plants, grass, seeds, and water-insects. 

 The search for these occupy their 'Night Thoughts,' for, as 

 before observed, they rest during the day. The first-named 

 they moisten before swallowing. 



The nest, which is usually built by the margin of an 

 inland lake, but sometimes near the sea-shore, and in clefts 

 of rocks and stony places, is placed among, and constructed 

 of heath, grass, or other vegetable substances, in moorland 

 and marshy districts, in rushy or boggy places. There is a 



