457 



GARGANEY. 

 Querquedula circia (Z). 



Bird of passage in spring and autumn. Has nested in east York 

 shire. 



The earliest published reference to this bird is found 

 under the heading of " Summer Teal " in Willughby's " Ornith- 

 ology " (1676, p. 378), where there is a description of the 

 plumage, followed by the remark : — " This is the least of the 

 Ducks. In its stomach dissected I found nothing but grass 

 and stones. This description we owe to Mr. Johnson " [of 

 Brignall, near Greta Bridge]. 



Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : — 



Anas querquedula. — The Garganey. Frequently shot near Don- 

 caster in the spring ; Dr. Farrar has met with but one specimen near 

 Barnsley, which was shot in the low grounds at Bolton-upon-Dearne 

 in 1828 ; R. Leyland mentions a beautiful pair killed on the river near 

 EUand many years ago ; it is rare near Leeds, but was obtained from 

 the River Calder, near Copley Mill, in 18 16; very rarely met with 

 near York ; A. Strickland says it is occasionally met with in winter, 

 but is one of our rarest species. 



The Garganey is a bird of passage in the spring and autumn, 

 of rather rare occurrence, and has been known to nest in east 

 Yorkshire in 1882, where Mr. F. Boyes, in company with the 

 late J. Swailes of Beverley, discovered the nest containing eight 

 eggs, from which the female rose a few feet off. There is no 

 doubt this species had bred on this ground for some years, as 

 the young had several times been procured there in the early 

 autumn, and adult birds, in full breeding plumage, had been 

 shot on the river close by for a period extending over ten 

 years. Mr. Richardson of Beverley has had many adult 

 birds from the river Hull in the month of April, and a male, 

 killed at Wilfholme, on the loth of that month in 1882, is in 

 the Hull Museum. 



It also bred between 1880 and 1887 on the north side of 

 the Teesmouth, which, though in Durham, is only separated 

 from Yorkshire by the river, and stragglers from the Durham 



