184 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



that is between August and March ; and in the spring 

 and summer all the true Ducks feed principally upon 

 insects, and are, of course, inferior to grain-fed birds. 

 I do not esteem young Mallard to be worth powder 

 and shot till they have been gleaning amongst the ripe 

 barley, and consider that the close-time for them 

 might be advantageously extended at least to xiugust 

 15 ; this extension should also apply to the Shoveller, 

 Gad wall, Pintail, Teal, and the present species. 



187. TEAL. 



Anas crecca. 



Although this beautiful little Duck is still by no 

 means an uncommon autumnal visitor to our county, 

 it has greatly diminished in numbers at all events in 

 the neighbourhood of Lilford, for whereas in my boy- 

 hood it was by no means exceptional to find flocks of 

 forty or fifty, occasionally of many more, between the 

 beginning of October and the end of March, I very 

 seldom now hear of more than a dozen or twenty as 

 seen together on our river or brooks. Many Teal 

 are bred in the rough fen below Peterborough, and 

 no doubt in other localities in our district. I have 

 authentic information of the nesting of this bird at 

 no great distance from Northampton, but in the 

 interest of the birds abstain from giving particulars. 

 I have kept a regular record of first annual reports of 

 appearance of Teal near Lilford from 1880 to 1889, 

 and find that they range from July 21 to October 19 ; 

 the first-named of these two dates is the only one for 

 July, and refers to a solitary young bird. 



In wet summers a few Teal drop in upon our 



