HOTTENTOT TEAL 
289 
GENERAL HABITS 
The Hottentot Teal, in spite of its wide range, is a rather uncommon bird, except- 
ing in a few localities. Almost nothing has been written concerning its life-history 
and, as it has never been observed in captivity, we know little of its voice, display or 
special behavior. It is essentially an inland species and, judging by its distribution, 
it seldom penetrates into the regions of rich tropical forests, seeming, if anything, to 
show a preference for higher country such as the vicinity of Kilimandjaro and 
Ruwenzori. 
Nearly all travelers have found this bird confiding and rather easy to approach. 
Horsbrugh (1912) even speaks of it as tame and sluggish and Sjbstedt (1910) found 
it quite “bold” in the Kilimandjaro lowlands, while Kothe (1911) speaks of it as not 
wary. Only F. J. Jackson (1906) considered it really wild. 
The flight seems to be light, silent and swift when once on the wing (Sjbstedt, 
1910; Horsbrugh, 1912). The birds usually travel as singles or in very small groups, 
and no large fiocks have ever been recorded. 
Of the voice nothing whatsoever has been recorded, so far as I know. 
Stomachs taken in the Kilimandjaro country and examined by Sjbstedt (1910) 
were filled with black volcanic gravel and digested parts of plants, apparently 
Characece. 
Nothing is known of the pairing and nesting activities, and even the nest itself 
seems never to have been described. Sjbstedt (1910) foimd young half -feathered on 
July 31 on the Merker Lakes, Kilimandjaro. Two eggs collected in Ovampoland by 
Andersson are of a pale cream-color, and measure about 43 by 33 mm. (E. W. Oates, 
1902). 
As the account of its distribution shows, the crater-lakes of the Ruwenzori range 
and the lakes of the Kilimandjaro lowlands, as well as Sundu Lake (former German 
East Africa) are the places in which this duck has been found to be really common. 
On the Ruwenzori it was the commonest duck on one of the Toro Lakes, where be- 
tween one and two hundred birds were seen (F. J. Jackson, 1906), and in the Kili- 
mandjaro it was found exceedingly common (Sjbstedt, 1910). All over the southern 
part of Africa it is one of the rarer ducks and in many local lists of water-birds in 
and about the Cape Province it does not appear at all. 
Sjbstedt (1910) speaks of this Teal as “delicious eating.” 
The species has never been brought alive to either Europe or America, so far as I 
have been able to discover. 
