i64 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap. 



never could manage to catch one, as they run with great rapidity 

 and dash into the sea before I can get up to them. 



The flight of the sheldrake is not so rapid or easy as that 

 of other ducks, rather resembling the heavy flapping of a goose 

 than the quick flight of a wild duck. I cannot understand why 

 this beautiful bird is not oftener kept on ornamental pieces of 

 water, as his fine plumage, his boldness, and familiarity render 

 him peculiarly interesting and amusing. 



The teal^ can scarcely be called a winter bird with us, 

 although occasionally a pair or two appear ; but in the spring 

 they come in numbers to breed and rear their tiny young in 

 the swamps and lochs. Nothing can exceed the beauty and 

 neatness of this miniature duck. They fly with great swiftness, 

 rising suddenly into the air when disturbed, and dropping as 

 quickly after a short flight, much in the same manner as a snipe. 

 In the spring the drake has a peculiar whistle, at other times their 

 note is a low quack. A pair of teal, if undisturbed, will return 

 year after year to the same pool for the purpose of breeding. 

 Like the wild duck, they sometimes hatch their young a con- 

 siderable distance from the water, and lead the young brood 

 immediately to it. I once, when riding in Ross-shire, saw an 

 old teal with eight newly-hatched young ones cross the road. 

 The youngsters could not climb up the opposite bank, and young 

 and old all squatted flat down to allow me to pass. I got off my 

 horse and lifted all the little birds up and carried them a little 

 distance down the road to a ditch, for which I concluded they 

 wei-e making, the old bird all the time fluttering about me and 

 frequently coming within reach of my riding-whip. The part 

 of the road where I first found them passed through thick fir- 

 wood with rank heather, and it was quite a puzzle to me how 

 such small animals, scarcely bigger than a half-grown mouse 

 could have got along through it. The next day I saw them 

 all enjoying themselves in a small pond at some little distance 

 off, where a brood of teal appeared every year. In some of 

 the mountain lakes the teal breed in great numbers. When 

 shooting in August I have seen a perfect cloud of these birds 

 occasionally rise from some grassy loch. The widgeon * never 

 breeds with us, but leaves this country at the end of April. 



' Nest, composed of dry grass (C. St. J.), is generally placed on the higher tufts of 

 heather. ' Moray. Breeds in Sutherland, Loch Naver, etc. — C. St. J. 



