| And neere to them ye see the lesser dibling Teale | |
| In * Bunches, with the first that flie from Mere to Mere, | * The word in Falconry, for a company of Teale. |
| As they above the rest were Lords of Earth and Ayre. (25.62–4) |
Drayton comes up with dibble, perhaps a derivative of dabble, to describe the way birds splash about in shallow water. Here it is used to describe ‘bunches’ of teal (small migratory ducks). This is part of a long list of the different kinds of creatures to be found in British wetlands that includes many unusual names for birds which Drayton either invents or writes down for the first time.