TEAL 105 



the two adults and eight young birds all strong on the 

 wing completely wiped out in a couple of hours by a 

 gunner who followed them up and shot them one by one. 

 The birds when first discovered, were feeding together on 

 a marsh, but as they rose they scattered. Captain G. Gould 

 estimates the speed of this bird on the wing to be one 

 hundred and forty-four miles per hour. I have seen Teal 

 swoop down from a height in the air to the water with 

 as great an impetus as that acquired by a flock of Golden 

 Plover when a shot is fired into their midst. 



Nest. Though the nest is invariably placed on the 

 ground, yet the breeding-haunts of the Teal vary consider- 

 ably. I have found the nest under heath-tufts, on damp 

 turfy soil, among high sedges and reeds by the river's side, 

 as well as in the stunted and scanty herbage of rough, low- 

 lying pasture-land. In the co. Mayo, in the year 1898, I 

 discovered a Teal breeding among heather near the summit 

 of a hill, while fifty feet lower down a pair of Curlews were 

 nesting on flat and somewhat damp ground. Dry grass is 

 the chief material of which the nest is composed ; when 

 built in heath, stems of that plant are frequently utilised. 

 The nest is lined with down. The eggs, ranging from 

 eight to ten, and even more in the clutch, are of a rich 

 creamy-white colour, some showing a tinge of pale bluish- 

 green. Incubation begins about May. 



The Teal is easily tamed and breeds freely on aquatic 

 preserves : hybrids frequently have been raised. 



This Duck nests throughout the British Isles ; in the 

 Outer Hebrides, where it hitherto has been looked upon as 

 a rare species, it is now increasing, and no doubt breeds in 

 North and South Uist (Harvie-Brown, 'Avifauna Of The 

 Outer Hebrides,' 1888-1902, Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1902-3). 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, this Duck is found 

 nesting over a vast area of the European and Asiatic Con- 

 tinents, also in North Africa. Its winter migrations extend 

 to Tropical Africa and Asia. Our bird has occasionally 

 wandered to the American coast, but its true representative 

 is the next species, the American Green-winged Teal, Nettion 

 carolinense. 



DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 



PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial. Top of head, back of 

 neck, cheeks, and throat, rich reddish-brown ; behind the eye 

 is a patch of glossy-green, which extends down the side of 

 the neck for a short distance ; above and below this patch 



