TEAL.
The teal is a swimming bird of the family Anatithe and sub-family Anatinm, and of the genus Querquednla, and several species are known. They are of somewhat slender make, and fly very rapidly. Teal have long been prized as a delicate food. Willughby remarks that for the taste of its flesh and the wholesome nourishment it affords the body, it (loth deservedly challenge the first place among those of its kind. In the Portraits d'Oyseaux 1557, the following quatrain celebrates its excellence, and alludes to its habits :— 'Bien pelt souvent se plonge la sareelle Entre deux eaux, de lequelle la chair Est delicate ; aussi eouste elle cher Autant qu'oyseau qui soit petit comme elle.' Accordingly it beld a high place in ancient feasts. We find it among the goodly provision ' at the banquet given at the enthroning of George Nevell, archbishop of York, in the reign of Edward tv.,—' mallardes and teals, 4000.' The price in the Northumberland Household Book is, 'Tcylles, Id., mallards being 2d.' Q. crecca, Linn., the common teal of India, is inches long. It is migratory, and breeds in the northern and temperate regions, but it is one of the most abundant, as also one of the earliest visitors to India. It arrives early in September, and frequents both tanks and rivers, often in immense flocks. Its flight is amazingly rapid.
Large number:3 are netted and caught in various ways to supply the tealeries. It is a night-feeder. It is most excellent food.
Q. circia, Linn. the blue-wingecl or Garg-aney teal, is distributed' over the greater portion of the Old World. It is even more abundant in India than the common teal, but is somewhat later in its arrival. It has a swift flight, occurs in vast flocks, and feeds at night. Vast quantities of this and Q. crecca are caught alive sorne by large flap-nets, others by nooses fixed 'to a long line across a jhil, and in sotne places by it man wading, with his head above water concealed in a large earthen pot, several of which have previously been set afloat.
Q. formosa, the Japanese teal, is very beautiful ; is likewise a native of North-Eastern Asia, being found in Japan and Manchuria.
Q. glocitans, Pallas, is the clucking teal of India. It is a rare bird both in Europe and in India, and appears to be most common in Northern Asia on the borders of Lake Baikal, and in China and Japan. It has a peculiarly loud clucking call, mok-inok-mok-lok ! The whistling teal is the Dendrocygna awsuree. Other species are Q. falcata, Pallas; Q. Javana, Bodd. ; Q. 3Ianillensis, Mull. and Schl.; and Q. nnmeralis, 31. and Sch.—Jerdon, p. 80G.