BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 275 
former favourite haunts has undoubtedly had a diminishing 
effect on the number of these birds, as Sir WiUiam Jardine 
points out in 1843.* 
The Teal, however, is still a common bird in the county 
and when the lochs are frozen over it is often flushed from 
an open drain or ditch. Its nest is occasionaUy found, 
and the presence of young broods on our various lochs in 
summer testifies to the fact that this species breeds with us 
fairly abundantly. In winter a considerable immigration 
takes place, and at this season our home-bred birds 
probably migrate farther south. 
A nest I knew of at the Far Loch (Keir), in May, 1905, 
contained seven eggs, which were taken and hatched under 
a fowl. Twenty-eight days were required for incubation, 
and four young were reared successfuUy. Sir Richard 
Graham, of Netherby (Cumberland), wrote me in 1908 that 
Teal now breed there full-winged. In his opinion they do 
best of all the ducks. In 1908 he caught 1,133, and many 
of these he marked on the leg with a ring stamped with the 
date. On September 28th, 1908, one which had been 
caught-up at Netherby in August of the same year, was shot 
on Lough Derg, in Ireland. f 
The Teal nests in northern Europe and Asia, migrating 
south in winter, when it is found all over the Continent, in 
northern Africa, Egypt, India, etc., and at this season great 
numbers of migrants are observed on the eastern coasts of 
Great Britain. 
[The North American Summer Duck {A'ix sponsa, Gray), 
an inhabitant of North America, as its name impUes, is 
frequently kept on ornamental waters in Great Britain, and 
breeds freely. Mr. George Russell writes me that he shot 
one of these birds in the autumn of 1905 on the Water of 
M, near ShieldhiU (Tinwald). " It was with some MaUard, 
and although it had been pinioned, it could fly fairly weU."] 
* Nat. Lib., 1843, Vol. XIV., p. 113. 
t Field, 1908, Vol. CXIL, p. 745. 
T 2 
