3IAE3IAKONETTA AXGUSTIEOSTRIS. 205 



possible ; and on two occasions I saw very pretty shouting, boats in line 

 pushing up a wide extent of rush-grown water, and the Marbled Teal rising 

 every minute in front of us at distances of sixty or seventy yards, like 

 Partridges out of some of our great Norfolk turnip-fields ; here and there 

 a Shoveller or a White-eyed Pochard, both of which, when disturbed, cling 

 a good deal to cover, would be flushed, but there was not one of these to 

 ten of the Marbled Teal. The flight of this species, though Teal-like, is 

 less rapid and flexible (if I may coin an expression to represent the extreme 

 facility with which that species turns and twists in the air) than that of 

 the Common Teal. It more nearly resembles that of the Garganey, but is 

 less powerful, and less rapid even than that of this latter species. There is 

 something of the Gadwall in it, but il; wants the ease of this. It flies 

 much lower, too, and, as already mentioned, much more readily resettles 

 after being disturbed. I have hardly ever seen them swinnning in the 

 open, and in the rushes they make, of course, slow progress. When 

 w^ounded they dive, but for no great distance, and then persistently hold on 

 under water in any clump of rush or w'eed, with only their bills above 

 water. 1 have never seen them on land in a wild state, but some captured 

 birds, whose wings had been clipped, walked very lightly and easily ; and 

 though they had been but a few days in confinement, they were very tame, 

 and could, I should imagine, be easily domesticated. 



" In fSpain, they are described as very wary, and there they seem to 

 frequent open water ; here they avoid this latter as a rule, and are, I should 

 say, amongst the tamer of our ducks. 



'• Their food is very varied here. Favier says that, in Tangiers, they 

 feed on winged insects ; in Sind, the major portion of their food consists 

 of leaves, shoots, rootlets, corms and seeds of aquatic plants, intermingled 

 with worms, fresh-water shells, insects of all kinds and their larva;. I 

 Ijelieve I found a small Irog in the stomach of one, l)ut it is not noted on 

 the tickets of any of the specimens now in the Museum, and I cannot be 

 quite sure." 



Its voice has been variously described as a whistling croak, a low 

 croaking whistle, a rather hoarse quack^ and a quack like tliat of the 

 domestic duels, but very harsh and abrupt. It is probal)le that these 

 descriptions apply to two notes, and that this duck, like some others, has 

 two distinct calls, one more or less of a whistle, the othei- sonicAvhat of the 

 nature of a quack. 



Its food is practically omnivorous, and as an article of diet itself it is 

 not fiv.-t-class. 



