80 VARIETIES OF SHOOTING. 



coverts black ; legs and toes dark brown. Lengtli eighteen 

 inches. The females and young males have the bill bluish 

 black ; iris brown ; head and neck light brown, tinged with 

 red, and speckled with dark brown : feathers of the back 

 dark brown on the centre of each, with paler edges slightly- 

 tinged with red ; wings and tail like those of the male ; the 

 whole under surface white. The nest is made among rushes 

 or sedge, and the female lays from six to eight eggs, which 

 are of a creamy white, two inches and an eighth in length, 

 by an inch and a half. 



The TEAL (Querquedula crecca) is the smallest of British 

 ducks, but on account of the delicious flavour of its flesh, it 

 is one of the most highly valued. Like the widgeon, 

 though more frequently than that bird, it only occasionally 

 breeds here, the immense flocks which are found in severe 

 winters on our waters migrating from the north. These 

 begin to appear in September, and leave in March or April. 

 Its flight is rapid but uniform, so that a good shot may be 

 sure of his mark. The nest is made among rushes, of a 

 mass of vegetable matter lined with down and feathers, and 

 usually contains eight or nine eggs, sometimes, but rarely, 

 twelve. The male has the beak nearly black ; iris hazel ; 

 forehead, and a narrow band over the top of the head dark 

 chesnut ; a narrow line of buff extends backwards from the 

 gape, and this dividing in front of the eye, passes above and 

 below it to the nape of the neck ; between these two lines 

 is a patch of dark glossy green ; cheeks and sides of the neck 

 below this patch chesnut ; upper parts white, barred with 

 narrow transverse lines ; wings brown in various shades ; a 

 speculum of green, purple, and black on the secondaries, 

 tipped with white ; tail dark brown and pointed ; chin 

 black ; front of neck chesnut above, with spots of black on 

 a white ground below ; legs and toes brownish grey. Length 

 fourteen inches and a half. The female has the whole of the 

 head speckled with dark brown, on a ground colour of light 

 brown ; after part of back and scapular dark brown, each 

 feather having two transverse bars of buffy brown; wing like 

 the male, but the speculum, is blacker and without the shade 

 of purple seen in the male ; chin pale brown ; lower part of 

 the neck varied with two shades of brown in crescentic 



