THE CLUCKING OR BAIKAL TEAL. 227 
and continuous clucking call, represented as a successive 
repetition of the syllable “mok,” whence Pallas applied to it 
the specific name “ glocitans,’ by which, until of late years, it 
was most commonly known. 
Prjevalsky remarks :— 
“When migrating these ducks fly very low, following the 
plains which abound with lakes; and as soon as one is 
perceived that is not frozen, especially in cold and stormy 
weather, they at once settle down on it. The presence of such 
a flock is always known ata good distance, as the drakes keep 
calling even when on the wing.” 
Middendorff says :— 
“When in flocks these ducks were very shy, but less so when 
paired. They make a great noise, as they continually utter 
their loud clucking note.” 
Radde too tells us that, “ when the waters rose, I often saw 
both this Duck andthe Common Teal sitting in small flocks on 
the floating ice blocks, and floating down stream on them. 
Anas glccitans is not particular as to its society ; and one morning, 
about the middle of April, I saw, in a small morass above the 
Udir rivulet, Azas boschas, A. crecca, A. glocitans, A. clypeata, 
A. acuta, and afew of A. penelope sitting quietly close together 
after a meal, resting, and I crept close to them under cover,” 
Of course each species, when you come to know it well, has its 
characteristic peculiarities ; and doubtless when we know more 
of this one we shall find that it has distinguishing traits in its 
food, flight, and the like ; at present its only recorded speciality 
is its harsh and oft-repeated clucking call. 
IN MANY respects it probably closely resembles the Common 
Teal ; its nest is probably similar, and placed in similar situations. 
Ican find nothing on record about its nidification but the 
following :— 
Dr. Middendorff says :—“ Aithough the commonest Duck on 
the Boganida (70° North Latitude), it did not occur so far north 
as the Taimyr River. It was not observed before the 12th June 
on the Boganida. On the 3rd July we found a nest on the river 
bank, under a willow bush, containing seven fresh eggs. On the 
24th July, the young in down began to exhibit feathers on the 
head, shoulders, and wings, but were still unable to fly on the 
4th August. On the 28th July a male was shot, which had lost 
its perfect plumage. The latest birds were seen on the 23rd 
August onthe Boganida. This bird was similarly plentiful in the 
Stanowoj Mountains (Aim River) and at Udskoj-Ostrog, where 
it arrived during the first days of May......... The eggs are bluish 
yellow in colour, and small—the smallest* was 1°98 long by 1:4, 
greatest breadth.” 
* He says ‘‘the smallest ;” but to judge from Taczanowski’s measurements he 
: juag 
may perhaps mean “the largest,” 
