RUDDY SHELD-DUCK. 349 



and now in the Dublin Museum, was shot on the Murrough 

 of Wicklow on the 7th July, 1847 ; another, in the same 

 Museum, was obtained more recently in co. Waterford ; 

 an example, doubtfully Irish-killed, is in Trinity College, 

 Dublin ; and a young male in the collection of Mr. Neligan 

 of Tralee, co. Kerry, was shot there on the 17th August, 1869. 

 Either as a straggler, or having escaped from confine- 

 ment, a Ruddy Sheld-Duck was shot near Stockholm, in 

 May 1854 ; and, from the description given. Prof. Palmen 

 has identified with this species a Duck shot on the Finland 

 side of Lake Ladoga. One is said to have been killed on 

 the island of Bornholm in the Baltic ; but it appears to be 

 as yet unrecorded from the coasts of Germany, Holland, 

 Belgium, and the north of France, although, in the south 

 of the last-named country, several examples have been 

 obtained near Toulouse. To the north of the Alps and 

 Carpathians it is, in fact, of exceedingly rare occurrence ; 

 nor can it be said to be abundant in the south-west of 

 Europe, although it breeds in small numbers in the extreme 

 south of Spain. It is very rare on the mainland of Italy; 

 somewhat less so in Sicily ; and a straggler to Malta. East 

 of the Adriatic it becomes more numerous ; nesting in 

 Macedonia ; and, abundantly, on the Lower Danube ; also 

 in Turkey, and Southern Russia, but migrating from the 

 northern shores of the Black Sea and the Caspian when the 

 cold weather sets in. It may be said to be resident in suitable 

 localities throughout the northern part of Africa, inciuding the 

 Sahara ; in Egypt ; Asia Minor ; Palestine ; and Persia. Its 

 breeding-range extends through Turkestan and Central Asia 

 to Baikalia and Mongolia, up to a little beyond 50'^ N. lat. 

 In winter it visits the more southern portions of the Chinese 

 Empire ; and there is evidence that it occurs in Japan. It 

 is very common during the cold season in many parts of 

 India, where it is known as the ' Brahminy Duck ' ; and it 

 breeds in the Himalayas, Tibet, and Kashgaria, up to an 

 elevation of 16,000 feet. 



The Ruddy Sheld-Duck makes its nest in a hole ; some- 

 times in the middle of a corn-field, or in a Marmot's burrow 



