244 BRITISH BIRDS 



Teal. 

 Querquedula crecca. 



Bill blackish ; crown, cheeks, neck, and throat chestnut ; round 

 and behind the eye an elongated patch of glossy green margined 

 with buff ; upper parts and flanks delicately marked with black and 

 white ; speculum black, green, and purple, tipped with yellowish 

 white ; rump and tail-coverts black ; tail-feathers brown ; front 

 of neck spotted with black on a buff ground ; breast and belly 

 white ; legs and feet brownish grey. Length, fourteen inches and 

 a half. Female : mottled brown ; little or no purple on the specu- 

 lum. The female dress is assumed by the drake in July, and is kept 

 until October. 



The handsome and natty little teal is the smallest of our ducka, 

 its weight being only one third that of the mallard. In appearance 

 it is a small wigeon, but whereas the wigeon is the wildest of our 

 wild ducks in disposition, the teal is the tamest. It is chiefly a 

 winter visitor to this country, and ^from September until spring is 

 found throughout the British Islands. A considerable number of 

 pairs remain to breed in suitable localities throughout England, and 

 more numerously in Scotland and Ireland. The nest is placed on 

 the ground on the borders of a marsh or bog, and sometimes at a 

 distance from water, among heather or herbage ; it is made of dry 

 grass and leaves, and, later on, down from the bird is added. The 

 eggs are creamy- white or pale buff in colour, with a tinge of green, 

 and eight or ten in number, sometimes as many as fifteen. The 

 teal feeds chiefly by night, on aquatic plants, insects, slugs, and small 

 crustaceans. Its call-note is a short, sharp quack, and in the pairing- 

 time the drake emits a low, jarring note. The drake does not moult 

 so early as most ducks, and remains longer with the female during 

 the breeding season, leaving her only when the young are partly 

 grown. 



Two American species of teal the blue-winged teal (Querque- 

 dula discors) and the green-winged teal (Q. carolinensis) have 

 been obtained in Great Britain, one specimen of each. 



