154 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



Bryanston and Morden Park, and I have notes of 

 others shot at Abbotsbury, Puncknoll, Weymouth, 

 Poole, and Kimmeridge Bay. 



GARGANEY. Querquedula circia, (L.) 



Yarrell, iv. p. 393; Hartiny, p. 63; Dresser, vi. p. 513; Ibis 

 List, p. 126 ; Anas circia, Seebohm, iii. p. 551 ; Anas quer- 

 quedula, Pulteney's List, p. 21. 



The Garganey or " Summer Teal " arrives in the 

 spring on its way to its nesting-haunts, and there 

 are few handsomer little Ducks than a male of this 

 species in full breeding plumage. Pulteney says, 

 "Large flights have been seen at St. Giles's and 

 Crichel." I have notes of specimens killed at Staf- 

 ford, Dorchester, and at Kimmeridge ; three shot out 

 of a small flock on the Fleet near Weymouth, March 

 26, 1870 ; one seen in Poole harbour by Mr. Pike in 

 April 1878 ; two shot at Tweedmore, and two on the 

 Wareham river in April 1879. Mr. Pike states that 

 a brood or two are annually hatched off in his neigh- 

 bourhood (Zoologist, 1878, p. 130). It is more rarely 

 observed on its return southward in autumn, when 

 comparatively few are killed by wild-fowlers. I learn 

 from Mr. E. Hart that one, an adult female bird, was 

 obtained at Poole on November 26, 1884. 



Like the Teal, this bird prefers the neighbourhood 

 of inland fresh-water pools, especially those sur- 

 rounded or sheltered by flags or reeds ; hence it is 

 not often observed by wild-fowl shooters on the coast, 

 except at the period of its arrival or departure. 



