The Teal 
83 
them, all their homage being paid simultaneously to the reigning beauty. It 
is a pretty sight, this spring display of the Teal, all the more so as many 
take part in it, and the positions of the male birds are curious and 
extravagant. As if by mutual consent, several drakes raise their bodies from 
the water, erect the tail, arch the neck and pass their bills down the chest, 
at the same time they give voice to the low double whistle. During this 
movement the female sometimes permits one or even two drakes to approach 
her closely, whilst all the others are disposed in a circle or semicircle near at 
hand ; but if any male that has not found favour in her eyes seeks to 
approach she will drive him off at once — an ignominious position which he 
seems to accept without question. It is only after some days of this volatile 
flirtation that the female eventually goes off with one male and remains 
strictly monogamous for the rest of the season, for after the end of April one 
never sees amongst Teal the tertium quid arrangement so common with other 
ducks. Teal drakes, on occasion, like the Mallard and the Shoveler, will 
sometimes even betray a very distinct alarm when their wives and families 
are threatened, for I once disturbed a Teal duck with young on an open moor 
at Cawdor. The drake was with her, and he, much to my surprise, was 
almost as anxious as the female to lead me away, resorting several times to 
the broken leg feints of his distressed partner. 
The nest is to be found in almost any sort of sheltered position near the 
water, but the female evinces a marked partiality for placing it in heather. 
In Scotland I have usually noticed it in open heaths, sometimes far from 
the lake or bog, but generally near to a burn that leads to them. The eggs 
number from eight to fifteen, are of a creamy white colour, sometimes with a 
faint tinge of green, which fades soon after their contents are extracted ; size 
1-8 by 1-2 inch. None of the ducks show such an affection for their young 
as the female Teal; when flushed with her young brood she will display 
greater bravery in their defence, and evince more solicitude for their welfare, 
than almost any bird ; and Messrs. Ussher and Warren mention ^ that ' in 
^ Birds of Ireland, p. 198. 
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