SWIMMERS. 
322 
in all respects with the European species. Our variety is 
abundant to the extremity of the continent, both-fn the woody 
and barren .districts of the remote fur countries of Hudson 
Bay. It is also plentiful about Severn River, in the woods 
and plains near fresh waters, where it breeds, the young being 
about six or seven at a hatch. It feeds much upon fresh- 
water insects, seeds, and aquatic plants, and when fat is deli- 
cate food. In the autumn and winter it is very common 
throughout the waters of the United States, both in the inte- 
rior and contiguous to the sea-coast. In the course of the 
winter it retires as far south as Jamaica, and is probably 
common also along the coasts of the Mexican Gulf. It fre- 
quents ponds, marshes, the reedy shores of creeks and rivers, 
and in winter is very abundant in the rice-plantations of the 
South. The birds usually fly in small parties, feeding mostly 
by night, associating with the Mallard, and are commonly 
decoyed by its call. 
The Teal is found in the North of Europe as far as Green- 
land and Iceland, and it also inhabits the borders of the Cas- 
pian to the south. In France and England it is said to breed. 
It is commonly seen on the pools, in close companies of 
ten or twelve together, frequenting the rivers and unfrozen 
springs in winter, where it subsists on aquatic plants. It flies 
very swiftly, and utters a sort of whistling cry. It breeds 
in the fens, continuing in the temperate parts of Europe 
the whole year. It conceals its nest among the bulrushes, 
constructing it of their stalks and lining it with feathers ; it 
rests also sometimes on the surface of the water, so as to rise 
and fall with the flood. The female takes the whole manage- 
ment of incubation ; the males at this time seeming to leave 
them and associate by themselves in companies. The Amer- 
ican Teals in the autumn, which visit this quarter, are also for 
the most part young birds and females, the males pursuing a 
diiferent route apart from the rest, and are rarely seen here 
until their return in the spring. 
The Green-winged Teal is abundant in Manitoba and the sur- 
rounding region during the migrations, and numbers nest as far 
