﻿100 ANATID/E. 



The food of the Teal is much the same as that of the fore- 

 going species, namely aquatic insects, and tender blades and 

 shoots of vegetable matter, also duck-weed, and seeds of 

 grasses ; barley and oats it also consumes. 



The breeding localities are swamps of all kinds, although 

 instances are on record of the nest and eggs having been 

 found in clefts of rocks and stony places ; the nest is com- 

 posed of a loose structure of grasses, and the eggs are from nine 

 to fourteen in number; in colour and size as represented in our 

 plate. Many pairs breed in Scotland, and some in divers 

 parts of England, but the greater numbers are multiplied in 

 Iceland, Lapland, Finland, and the north of Russia, and 

 equally so in the northern countries of Asia and America ; in 

 Norway, Sweden, Prussia, and Poland great numbers also 

 breed. 



The male measures fourteen inches and a half; the beak 

 one inch five lines ; the tarsus, one inch two lines ; the 

 wing seven inches five lines. 



The crown of the head, cheeks, sides, and front of the 

 neck, very rich chestnut-brown ; around the eyes, continuing 

 as far as the nape, is a patch or band of glossy green, framed 

 by a white line ; the chin is black ; the sides of the neck, 

 back, scapulars, and flanks are rayed with zig-zag lines of 

 black on a white ground ; the wing-coverts are hair-brown, 

 with a slight tinge of grey ; those nearest to the secondaries 

 have yellow tips, forming thus a bar across the wing ; the 

 speculum is green, with the feathers on each side black ; the 

 front of the neck and breast are cream-white, with dusky 

 black spots, the belly and vent white ; the under tail-coverts 

 yellow, with a division of black, and bordered with black ; 

 the tail-feathers pale dusky-brown, edged with white ; the 

 beak is black, the legs gray, with brown joints and webs ; 

 the eyes brown. 



