The True Ducks. 175 



tory Ducks, before the rivers have been 

 broken up into pack-ice, breeding much 

 farther north than the Mallard, it is less 

 courageous than the larger species in 

 braving the storms and snows of winter. 

 Its habits differ very little from those 

 of its congeners ; perhaps it might be said 

 that the Teal is more partial to small 

 reedy ponds and less fond of visiting the 

 mud-banks on the sea-shore than its 

 relations ; but its food is the same mixture 

 of animal and vegetable substances. Its 

 quack or alarm-note is very similar to that 

 of the Garganey, and may be represented 

 by the syllable knake ; but the call-note 

 of both sexes is a sharp krik^ and in the 

 pairing-season the drake utters a harsh 

 grating note. It is quite as gregarious as 

 its congeners, and sometimes on migration 

 the flocks of Teal are very large. Like 

 the Wigeon and the Pintail, the Teal 

 loves to breed amongst the scattered trees 

 in the low-lying forest swamps and on the 

 banks of the lakes and courier s> as the 

 little freshwater fjords of Siberia are called, 

 up in the nortn near the Arctic circle. 

 The nest is sometimes concealed amongst 

 the rushes, often hidden in a clump of 

 bilberries or under a willow bush. The 

 first egg is laid early in May in North 



