THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL 307 
larger brethren can equal them in speed, and if 
they chance to join a flock of larger ducks the 
big fellows must keep moving or the Teal will 
show them the road. Estimates of the speed 
of ducks set the record for the teals at one hun- 
dred miles an hour,—probably as liberal as 
most estimates. 
About the time of the first frost or about the 
full of the moon in September, the Blue-winged 
Teal begins to migrate to the southland for the 
winter. At this time the movement is general 
and by October first scarcely a Blue-wing is 
cleaving) New England’s skies. For a week or 
ten days at most the flight is on and during the 
early morning hours or just about sundown 
those spots which present attractions to the 
black duck are apt to receive a call from his 
small cousins, the teals. They will mix with 
any duck company they chance to meet, are less 
suspicious than almost any others of the family, 
come readily to wooden decoys, and a ‘‘talking’’ 
black duck toler is a sure enough winner with 
them. They thus afford great sport to the wild- 
fowler and are very popular with all that 
brotherhood whose favorite regalia are hip- 
boots and old clothes, and whose chief joys in 
