the Mallard does ; but though Adams says that they remain
all the year round in Kashmir, no one has since confirmed this
fact, nor, so far as I know, found the nest within our limits.
Elsewhere, the Teal is common in Independent Burmah, and
occurs in Northern Siam(* is plentiful in China, Mongolia, and
rather rare in Eastern Turkestan.-f- in all of which it is mainly a
bird of passage or winter visitant. It is found throughout
Siberia from Kamschatka to Russia, breeding everywhere, but
rarely far inside the Arctic Circle; it occurs in Western Turkestan,
in many parts of which it breeds, throughout Persia, Afghanistan,
Beluchistan, Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Asia Minor, in which
latter a few are said to breed, while to the rest it is only a
winter visitant.
It is more or less abundant also, at one season or another,
in every part of Europe (where it breeds occasionally as far
south, at any rate, as the 40th degree North Latitude), and of
North Africa as far south as Abyssinia, and has been recorded
from Madeira and the Azores on one of which it breeds.
It is very common in Iceland, but in Europe as in Asia docs not
seem to stray in any numbers, within the Arctic Circle.
Lastly, it straggles to Greenland and the Eastern Coasts of
North America, being replaced elsewhere in that region by
a barely separable species, Q. carolinensis.
IT IS difficult to say when the Common Teal does arrive, as the
period varies a good deal in different years, and in different parts
of the country. But in the more northern plains portion of the
Mr. Gates says :—" The Common English Teal is nowhere met with in the Pegu
Province in large quantities. One or two birds may generally be found on large
sheets of water in company with the commoner kinds of Teal. It is, of coarse, only
a cold weather visitor."
* In this and many other cases it will be noticed that I have made no reference
to Southern Siam, Cambodia, Anam. Cochin China, and Tonquhi, though in many
cases one or more of these appear to He within the range of the species referred to.
In regard to Northern Siam I have some little information, and hope hereafter to
have more ; but in regard to Southern Siam, beyond a list of the birds in the Paris
Museum kindly prepared for me by Mr. L>. G. Elliot, Schomburgk's paper in the
Jbis (1864.). and Gould's list (P. Z. S., 1859), I have uo information ; and in regard to
the other provinces mentioned, although I believe that lists have been printed, if not
published, in Paris, I have utterly failed to procure copies. It must not, therefore,
be concluded that any species does not extend to one or more of these, because I
say nothing about their so doing—on the contrary, this very species most probably
occurs in Tonquin —it is simply that I have no information on the subject.
+ Henderson says in our Lahore to Yarkand :—" The Common Teal was never
seen cither on the way to or in Yarkand ; the first specimen was met with on the
return joumey, near the hot springs at Gokra, at an elevation of between 15.000 and
10.000 feet. Later in October they were seen on the Indus, near Le, and at Kargil,
both in Ladakh. Probably this species does not breed so far south as Yarkand, and
the birds, seen on the return journey, weie doubtless migrating to their winter quarters
in Hindostan."
The second Yarkand Mission obtained several there, and in the case of the third
Scully writes :—" The Common Teal was only obtained at Kashghar in November ;
(Li Sughuchak near Yarkand, by Mr. Shaw, in January ; and at Beshkant, in the
beginning of February. I was told that it migrated northwards to breed."
THE COMMON TEAL. 2 0 7
Empire, though a few arc often seen during the latter half of
September, and exceptional cases have been reported of their
appearance some weeks earlier even than this, I think we may
say that the first heavy flights arrive during the first week of
October. Further south and in Sindh they seem to be a little
later, but even at Dccsa Captain Butler shot them as early as
the 27th of September.
Usualty they leave most parts of India by the end of
April, but they are occasionally seen alike in the south and
north well into May ; and Mr. Albert Theobald, in a most interesting
note which I subjoin,* tells us that they were plentiful near
Palamcottah in the Tinnevelli District, (at the extreme south of
the Peninsula) on the 15th of May.
Teal occur in flocks of all sizes ; and, though perhaps bunches
of from ten to thirty are most commonly seen, little parties of
two to five are frequently met with on small ponds, and huge
flocks, containing many hundreds of birds, occasionally appear.
I have never seen gigantic crowds of this species similar
to those one sometimes encounters of the Garganey; but
still I have seen, I think, at least a thousand birds on several
occasions in a single, though rather straggling, flight. I have
never, however, seen much above one hundred gathered together
on the water in one place, and commonly I have observed that,
however large the flock that comes in, it alights all about the
banks of the lake or river 111 comparatively small detachments.
You may meet with them anywhere ; a pair or two may
be seen, where the villagers do not molest them, on any village
* Mr. Albert Theobald says :—" I have shot the Common Teal all over Southern
India, except in Malabar, where I have not seen them.
"They come in at the beginning of the north-east monsoon about November,
and leave again about March and April, when most of the large tanks are dry. I
have shot them in Tinnevelli as late as the 15th May 1872. I am inclined to
suspect that they may remain throughout the year in well-watered districts. They
are common in almost every weedy tank.
"Tanks containing abundance of weeds are their favourite haunts. They feed
maiidy on the tender shoots of weeds and grasses. The following extract is from some
notes made by me in I'alaincottah, Tinnevelli district, on the 15th May 1872 ***
' These Teal are found in great abundance in all the large tanks south nf Palamcottah ;
—in one especially they were so tame, that I mistook them for domesticated ones. They
were not more than five or six yards from a number of villagers who were having
their morning bath, making, as usual, a great noise by dashing their wet clothes on the
stones to cleanse them. Even when fired at, they appeared quite unconcerned.
"They were quite playful, chasing each other, sometimes on the water, and sometimes
in the air. and then suddenly tumbling into the water. They would frequently
turn on their backs, and move about with their wings spread open. At first I
fancied they wsre wounded, but found it was all done in play. The only reason I can
give to account for these birds being so tame in this district is, that hardly a native
possesses a gun. All were disarmed by Government during the 1'olligar wars, about
70 or 80 years back, and the villager? are still under the impression that it is illegal
to have fire-arms. The few Europeans about here are almost all missionaries, and
do not go in for any sort of sport. Elsewhere the natives snare, net and shoot
numbers, and all large markets in Southern India are well supplied with them during
the season."