90 The Natural History of British Ducks 
abundant course of celery and wild rice; whilst in British Columbia they are 
held in abhorrence for the rankness of the flesh, owing to their filthy habits 
of gorging on the putrid salmon which lie rotting in the creeks. 
Immense numbers of green-winged Teal are annually killed in Canada 
and the United States on the occasion of their autumnal migration, and 
again, on the spring migration north in those countries, where there are no 
protection Acts, or where, at any rate, they cannot be enforced. The result 
is that in America, at least, the birds are not nearly so numerous as they 
used to be. 
I shall never forget my first meeting with these little ducks, and the 
extraordinary fearlessness displayed by them. I got up one morning to take 
a breath of fresh air before breakfast at a roadside ranch on the Wyoming 
prairies, and there, within twenty yards of the door, were three Teal sitting 
composedly by the side of a little puddle of water. I walked up to them 
within three yards, and then sat down beside them without their betraying 
more emotion than to cock their little heads on one side as much as to say 
' I hope you won't disturb us ; it's been a cold night, and we're enjoying this 
morning's sun.' Needless to say, I left them in peace to enjoy their siesta. 
Ranchmen on the prairies have told me that these little ducks would some- 
times come and share the food thrown from the door to the chickens ; and 
Mr. Arnold, in the * Nidologist,' tells of finding nests of the green-winged Teal 
built in tufts of grass on the sun-baked banks, along the railroad tracks in 
Manitoba, where the workmen constantly passed, the brooding females intent 
only on keeping warm their large nestful of cream-white eggs. 
The green-winged Teal go north early, the males employing the same 
form of courtship as the European bird. The females lay early in May, and 
sometimes place their nests far from the water in exposed situations. They 
lay from seven to sixteen cream-white eggs — measurements I'S by 1-25 inch. 
The young have power of full flight by the end of July. 
