THE TEAL. 
285 
except Dublin and Carlow. On migration there is a large 
increase in the numbers of Teal which visit us, and the species 
is commoner in winter. 
Eange outside the British Islands. — The range of the present 
species in summer extends from Iceland throughout Northern 
Europe and Asia to Bering Island, breeding as far north as 
70° N. lat. In Southern Europe it is less frequent, though it 
nests in Madeira and in the Azores, but it is more plentiful in 
the Mediterranean countries in winter, when it ascends the 
Nile Valley and visits Abyssinia. In Central Asia and Eastern 
Siberia the species breeds more sparingly, but nests abun- 
dantly in the Commander Islands, and it is a common winter 
visitor to the Caspian Sea, the Indian Peninsula, China, and 
the Burmese countries. It is an occasional visitor to Green- 
land and the Eastern United States, as well as to Alaska. 
Habits. — This is the smallest of the English Ducks, and is 
found in winter in a variety of places, on the lakes consorting 
with the Mallards and Wigeon, though keeping to itself in 
small parties, which generally take flight by themselves. At 
other times Teal may be found singly in water-holes in the 
marshes. Mr. Seebohm writes : — “ Its habits differ very little 
from those of its congeners ; perhaps it might be said that the 
Teal is more partial to small reedy ponchs, and less fond of 
visiting the mud-banks on the sea-shore than its relations ; 
but its food is the same mixture of animal and vegetable sub- 
stances. Its quack, or alarm-note, is very similar to that of 
the Gargancy, and may be represented by the syllable knake, 
but the call-note of both sexes is a sharp krik, and in the pair- 
ing-season the drake utters a harsh grating noise. It is quite 
as gregarious as its congeners.” 
Like the Mallard, the Teal often builds its nest at some 
distance from water, and Lord Lilford says that he feels sure 
that, in such instances, it “carries its young to the splashy 
spots in which it delights.” 
Nest. — Does not differ from that of the other Ducks, and is 
lined with down. As an instance of the early nesting of the 
Teal, Mr. Robert Read writes to me : — “ I have taken the nest 
of the Teal in May, under a tuft of heather on a hillside over- 
looking a fresh-water loch in Scotland. In the same locality 
