94 ANATID^E. 



were not affected elsewhere. But the decrease is only too 

 general. Dublin market is much less numerously supplied from 

 decoys and otherwise than formerly. A fine decoy, exclusively 

 for teal, at Mountainstown, near Navan, county Meatli, in 

 which immense quantities were taken, has, for many years past, 

 ceased to be worked. Its proprietor remarked, in 1845, that " the 

 country has been so drained and improved, that all kinds of wild- 

 fowl are now very scarce, and a decoy is among the things we 

 read of, rather than see." 



On looking to the contents of the stomachs of twenty-seven 

 teal, killed in the north of Ireland at various times, from late in 

 autumn until the beginning of spring, I have ascertained that they 

 feed chiefly on the seeds of aquatic plants of various kinds — 

 among others, of rushes, duck-weed {Lemna), &c. — also, on other 

 vegetable matter, and occasionally on insect larvae : a quantity of 

 sand and gravel likewise is taken into the stomach. One bird, killed 

 in February, near Donaghadee, contained six of the remarkable- 

 looking rat-tailed larvse of Elophilus tenax, Latr., which were quite 

 fresh, so that they must have been taken alive, or very soon after 

 death ; some husks, together with several grains of flax-seed, were 

 also included. Audubon has remarked of the green-winged teal of 

 America, which he considers the same as the European species, 

 " that being more select, or confined to vegetable food, than most 

 other ducks, their flesh is delicious." 



Sir "William Jardine is of opinion, that there is no migration of 

 teal to the south of Scotland ; but, to the shores and fresh-waters 

 of Ireland, I feel satisfied that there must be, or, in other words, 

 that the numbers which appear in winter cannot have been all 

 bred in the island. The birds generally inhabiting marine loca- 

 lities, as well as a proportion of those living on inland lakes, &c., 

 are, probably, from higher latitudes. 



They breed in suitable localities, in all parts of Ireland, that are 

 sufficiently retired, often in those resorted to for the same purpose 

 by wild ducks. A few of these in the county of Antrim, and not 

 far from Belfast, may be mentioned : — Lough Morne, near Car- 

 rickfergus (according to Mc Skimmin, some years ago) ; — Dro- 



