FORMOSAN TEAL 
253 
Behavior in Captivity. This Teal was imported into England at an early date, 
and bred in the London Gardens in the years 1840, 1841, 1842 and 1843. P. L. 
Sclater (1880) thinks it did so even earlier on the Earl of Derby’s estate at Knowsley. 
The species was then lost, and was not re-introduced in the London Gardens until 
1867, and to my knowledge it has not again bred there. In more recent times Earl 
Grey of Falloden (in Iht.) succeeded in rearing them, but none of his young birds 
showed any disposition to nest. Millais (1913) states that a pair bred on the estate 
of Sir Richard Graham at Netherby in 1912 and succeeded in rearing a fine brood. 
They are supposed to have flown from Mr. Maurice Portal’s ponds at Hexham in 
Northumberland, where there were several full-winged pairs. 
Mr. Seth-Smith of the London Gardens told me of a pair in Regents Park that 
laid a single egg and then deserted the nest. Lord William Percy spoke of breeding 
them in Northumberland, but Mr. Blaauw of Holland has never had any luck with 
this Teal. 
In Holland the species was first induced to nest in 1872 and again in 1873 by 
Polvliet of Rotterdam (Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 1872, 1873). He paid 440 francs for 
this pair, which laid six eggs, all infertile. Subsequently Courtois (1880) got a pair 
to lay after he had had them four or five years, and in 1881 (Courtois, 1881) this pair 
laid eight eggs, which the female incubated. Six were reared. In the Berlin Gardens 
it apparently did not breed until 1914 (Heinroth, 1915a). 
So far as I can discover the Formosan Teal has never been bred in this country 
It is one of the most attractive of the small ducks, and is a great addition to any 
collection of water-fowl. However, it must be classed among the more difficult species 
to breed in captivity, and undoubtedly the best results are to be obtained from full- 
winged birds. 
Until about the year 1910 these Teal were always scarce in the dealers’ shops. 
Wormald (1907) mentions the price of £50 having been asked for a pair, and Miss 
Rose Hubbard (1907) was told that when first imported they brought £20 to £30 a 
pair; but by 1907 the price had dropped to five guineas and upward. About 1911 it 
became one of the commonest water-fowl imported into Europe, and the price be- 
came correspondingly low. At the same time they were being imported in large num- 
bers from Shanghai to Australia, as many as three hundred going on one ship. 
Similar consignments were shipped on every voyage. In 1914 the price in this 
country had dropped as low as $6.00 per pair, and so many were brought to San 
Francisco that they could not be disposed of. During the War no birds reached this 
coimtry, but in the years 1919-20 some forty -four were recorded as having arrived 
in San Francisco. 
The few pairs I have kept showed themselves hardier than Blue-winged or even 
Green-winged Teal. Twenty-one specimens in the London Gardens averaged four 
years, and the maximum length of life was twelve and a half years. 
