2 14 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



the bird, then leave the road and walk towards him, 

 when it was presumed he would take wing and fly 

 in the opposite direction, and thus towards where I 

 lay concealed. The whole plan turned out a com- 

 plete success, the result being that I got a nice 

 flying shot past my position, and bagged the fine 

 old drake. Some time after this I got the duck, 

 which I surprised when stalking amongst a lot of 

 seaweed-covered boulders ; not particularly nice 

 sort of oround for stalkingr in owino- to the 

 slipperyness of the seaweed ; unless you go rather 

 carefully to work you stand a very good chance 

 of breaking an arm or a leg. The young I 

 got some years afterwards, four out of the 

 six being obtained from a naturalist friend in 

 Croydon, and the remaining two, which are larger 

 than the others, I obtained from the Sound of Mull. 

 This species " breeds along the coast of Norway 

 up to about 70 deg. N. latitude, and is abundant in 

 Sweden, Denmark, the Baltic, the North Frisian 

 Islands, and Holland. It also nests on the shores 

 of France, and sparingly in the Spanish Peninsula ; 

 but throughout the basin of the Mediterranean it is 

 chiefly a winter visitor, and in the southern and 

 eastern portions the representative species in 

 summer is the Ruddy Sheld - Duck " (Howard 

 Saunders). This last named Duck I have met with in 

 India, where it is common in the winter season, the 

 local name for which is the Brahminy Duck. It's a 

 handsome bird, but no good for the table, being too 

 fishy in flavour. 



