492 BIRDS OP SOMERSETSHIRE. 



countries further to the south ; a few, however, do 

 remain to breed in England, and specimens occa- 

 sionally occur in the autumn, and even in the winter. 

 This bird does not appear to proceed very far to the 

 north in its wanderings, not being included amongst 

 the birds of Orkney or Shetland ;* Captain Hadfield, 

 however, in the 'Zoologist' for 1864 (p. 9169), 

 mentions having seen a small flock of Garganey Teal 

 on the north-east coast of Scotland, on the 14th of 

 December. 



This bird may easily be kept in confinement and 

 becomes very tame ; it may then be fed upon any 

 sort of grain: in a wild state its food appears to 

 consist of insects and their larvse, small worms, 

 small fry of fish, frogs and spawn, roots and shoots 

 of aquatic plants, grasses and other vegetables of 

 various descriptions, and grain. f 



The place chosen for the nest appears to be much 

 the same as that generally chosen by the Wild Duck, 

 but I do not know that it ever selects the exalted 

 positions sometimes resorted to by that bird. 



Though not so brightly coloured as the Mallard 

 or Common Teal, the drake is nevertheless a very 

 beautifully marked bird. The bill is brown; the 

 irides hazel ; the top of the head and nape very 

 dark brown with a few pale streaks ; immediately 



* Yarrell, vol. Hi., p. 279. 



f Meyer's 'British Birds,' vol. vi., p. 105. 



