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ANAS QUERQUEDULA 
The clutch is large, varying all the way from six to fourteen eggs, the average 
being eight or nine. The eggs are rich cream to brown-cream in color, with very little 
if any suggestion of green. They are hardly distinguishable from those of the Com- 
mon Teal, though they are more yellow (Millais, 1902). They vary in size from 
39.3-48 by 29.4-33 mm., the average being 44.96 by 32.48 mm. (Hartert, 1920a). 
The nest-down is very distinctive: blackish brown or sepia with white centers and 
conspicuous white tips (A. C. Jackson, 1918). 
The incubation period, Naumann (1896-1905), after careful observation, found 
to be twenty-one to twenty-two days, and W. Evans’ (1891) investigations gave the 
same result; but Heinroth (1908) states that it is about twenty-four days. There 
is little information regarding the behavior of the males during this time, but Nau- 
mann says they stay in the close vicinity of the nest for some time before thej' flock 
together to moult. There can be no question whatsoever about their desertion of 
the female early in the incubation period. 
Status. The Garganey has apparently never been at all a plentiful species in 
western Europe or eastern Asia. The center of abundance lies in the eastern Medi- 
terranean and extends as far as India and central Asia. Figures for the old decoys 
are of no value because both species of Teal were thrown together. It appears, 
however, that in the Ashby Decoy, Lincolnshire, during the years 1833-68 only 
twenty-nine Garganeys were taken, all of which were captured in the month of 
April (Cordeaux, 1896). The practical absence of the Garganey in English decoys 
is partly due to the fact that they leave for the south before the decoys begin work- 
ing, and arrive on the breeding grounds after the decoys have closed. In Millais’ 
(1902) opinion the supposed increase of the Garganey in the British Isles has been 
greatly exaggerated. He thinks that in Norfolk, the chief breeding ground, fewer 
nests are found each year. In 1900, he estimated the number of nests in that county 
at not more than fourteen. Other English sportsmen and naturalists have told me 
that this Teal is certainly decreasing at the present time. 
A good idea of the comparative abundance of the Garganey in Germany may be 
derived from Naumann’s statement, made about a century ago, that this Teal was 
little if at all more numerous than the Gadwall. According to Ternier and Masse 
(1907) it is becoming more and more rare in France, and local observations in south- 
eastern Hungary also point to considerable decrease since 1850 (von Buda, 1906). 
Even in southern Russia, which is one of the great breeding areas, Radde (1854) 
found it a less common bird than the Common Teal during the summer in the 
Crimea. But in Montenegro it is said to be more abundant than the Common Teal 
on passage (Reiser and von FUhrer, 1896). 
For Africa the following notes are of interest: In Constantine Province, Algeria, 
it is much more rare than Anas crecca (Taczanowski, 1870), but in northern Nigeria, 
