228 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



in others they are not infrequent, though never common. 

 Should you find a nest with the old bird sitting and put 

 her off, she will feign lameness to lead you away from her 

 treasures. 



When the young are hatched, the old bird takes them 

 down to the dikes or broad, and educates them in the reed- 

 beds edging the lagoons, teaching them to eat duck-weed 

 and other food such as the mallard feeds upon. 



After shooting comes in, the clutches get scattered ; and 

 in September you may see them singly or in pairs, rarely in 

 full clutch, frequenting the gladen and reed, the alder cars, 

 or slads upon the marshes ; but by Christmas either the 

 home-bred birds have gone or they have gathered into 

 bunches. Yet at this season a pair may be flushed (for I 

 believe that, like the mallard, they pair for life) from a 

 dripping alder car, or else a lone widow or widower may 

 jump up from a clump of stuff; but the ubiquitous gunner 

 does not give the lone one much chance, for its body is 

 sought after, though, as a table-bird, I think the teal to be 

 greatly overrated. Even the plumpest home-bred teal of 

 the year cannot bear comparison to a home-bred flapper 

 mallard or widgeon. I am not " wrapped up " with them at 

 all for eating ; but tastes differ. 



GARGANEY TEAL. 



The gay " gargle-teal," as the Broadsmen call this con- 

 spicuous bird, is first to be seen in the month of April, 

 when you may also hear that peculiar sucking note of 

 his. Some fine day in that month, as you push round the 

 fresh young gladen, where the big lily-leaves are spreading 

 over the water, you may flush a pair of gargles, the cock- 

 bird glistening in the sunshine. Away they fly the drake 

 then calling towards the marshlands, for they have come 

 to nest; but now-a-days the few pairs that come over 

 .are rarely allowed to hatch off. The egger and collector, 



