KETTION CRECCA. 173 



and keep the siiii and hot Avimls oft' th(> builih'ntj; : hut this must he kejit 

 neatly trimmed inside, or it wouhl interfere with ventilation, and must not 

 1)6 allowed to set hioher than the eaves. 



" Into such a building in February or March you may turn 200 Teal, 

 some Common, some Garganey, as you can get them. A few Gadwall 

 and Pintail will also do no harm, hue they do not thrive so certainly as the 

 Teal ; and the Garganey^ though very good, is not equal for the table to 

 its smallest congener." 



Teal have on so many occasions been found at different times between 

 June and August in India, that ornithologists have been always kept in a 

 state of semi-expectation that their nests would be found somewhere 

 wdthin our Indian limits, either in Kashmir or some of the Himalayan 

 lakes. Still time has gone on and no such nest has yet been taken, and, 

 personally, I think it is unlikely one ever will be. Amongst the many 

 thousands shot annually, it would be strange if some few, whilst escaping 

 death and even severe wounds, did not receive internal injuries, invisible 

 themselves after a brief period, yet quite sufficient to incapacitate the 

 bird from migration. This would be quite enough to account for the few 

 Ijirds met w^ith at abnormal times ; and though these might appear strong 

 and robust on the wing, yet it does not follow that they were equally so a 

 week or ten days before they were noticed. They breed practically over 

 the whole of their northern habitat as far south as the 40th degree, l)ut 

 in the southern portion of this range they only breed here and there in 

 very small numbers. They breed freely in Northern England and in 

 Scotland, though seldom in the southern counties ; yet they have been 

 recorded at this season, and their eggs have been taken, in Spain, Greece, 

 North Italy, and South Russia. 



They breed very rarely in Greenland, })lentifully in Iceland, but not 

 much in the extreme north of Europe, and probably not at all in the 

 extreme north of Asia. Throughout Southern Siberia, Manchuria, and 

 the Amur a great number breed, and a few also in the north of Japan. 



They generally make their nests at the edges of swamps and other 

 })ieces of water, often where there is actually a little water standing, and 

 even where they make them at a distance from any water the site chosen 

 is nearly always a wet and boggy one. Thus, in Scotland they sometimes 

 breed on the moors in amongst the heather, but they always select some 

 di[t which keeps more or less damp and where the wattM- jiiay occasionally 

 collect. 



The nest is a large unsluqjely mass of vegetable stuff", rushes, weeds. 



