86 The Natural History of British Ducks 
sometimes be seen consorting together, yet it is more usual to see them going 
about singly, and in August shooting we nearly always find adult males in 
eclipse plumage alone. They do not join others of their own species until the 
formation of the winter flocks in October. 
In captivity Teal are charming additions to any ornamental water, and do 
well in confinement. Like the Pintail, however, they are generally very shy, 
and it is only very rarely that pinioned birds will breed. Sir Douglas Brooke 
has only once bred pinioned Teal, and other owners of water-fowl tell much 
the same tale ; yet Teal have nested regularly in such noisy and apparently un- 
suitable surroundings as the ponds at St Stephen's Green, in the city of 
Dublin, and more than once in the gardens of the Zoological Society in 
London. The Teal is said to have hybridised with both the Wigeon and the 
Gadwall, though I have never seen any such cross which was not open to 
doubt ; but there is a remarkable hybrid between Teal and Garganey in the 
collection of the Hon. Walter Rothschild. Albinos and varieties of this 
species are also extremely rare, a fine one being in the possession of Admiral 
Hickley near Taunton. 
The Plumage of the Adult Male Teal 
Weight 12 to 14 ozs. ; length i4'5 inches; wing 7-25 inches. Bill black; 
legs and toes brown ; crown, nape, throat, and cheeks, bright chestnut ; 
surrounding the eyes and stretching back to the nape an elongated patch of 
purple, shot with green and enclosed with a line of white or buff according to 
season, while another buff stripe goes round from the side of the forehead down 
the front of the cheek near the bill ; upper parts and flanks vermiculated with 
black and white, giving rather a blue-grey appearance at a little distance ; 
on the secondaries a wing spot of bright green enclosed by black lines, the 
feathers edged with buff ; rump and tail coverts black ; tail feathers brown, 
occasionally sufl'used with grey and edged with buff" ; chin black, sometimes the 
dark colour extends some distance down the throat ; front of neck, buff or 
