350 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family ANATID^E. Genus CHAULELASMUS. 



Subfamily ANATINM. 



QADWALL. 



CHAULELASMUS STREPEKUS (Linnte-us). 



Anas strepera, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 200 (1766) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed 4, iv. p. 370 (1885) ; 



Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 530 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Pig. Brit. B. pt. xv. (1890) ; 



Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. B. p. 227 (1893) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. 



p. 37, pi. 14 (1896). 

 Querquedula strepera (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 59 (1852). 



Chaulelasmus streperus (Linn.), Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 487, pi. 424 (1873) ; Salvador!, 

 Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 221 (1895) ; Sharpe, Hand-b. B. Gt. Brit. ii. p. 273 

 (1896). 



Geographical distribution. British : The Gadwall is a comparatively 

 rare and local winter visitor to the British Islands, although many apparently 

 pass our coasts on migration, especially in spring. It is found in small numbers 

 in the Orkneys and Shetlands, thence down both the east and west coasts of 

 Scotland including many of the Hebrides, becoming less common in England, 

 where it occurs most frequently in the east. It is a fairly frequent visitor to 

 Ireland, where it appears to be much overlooked. It breeds locally in Norfolk, 

 originally a pair of pinioned birds only, but now their descendants together with 

 apparently thoroughly wild birds which have been tempted to lag behind their 

 companions in spring. The Gadwall is a fresh-water species, frequenting inland 

 pools as well as those in the vicinity of the sea. Foreign : Circumpolar, 

 Palaearctic and Nearctic regions ; Oriental region in winter. It breeds locally in 

 Iceland. It is not known to breed in Norway, but does so in the south of Sweden, 

 and more sparingly in North Germany, Eastern Prussia, and the Baltic provinces. 

 Eastwards it ranges across Eussia and Siberia to the Stanavoi Mountains, south 

 of about lat. 60, from east to west. In Europe it certainly breeds as far south 

 as Spain, the valley of the Danube, the Crimea, and the Volga and Ural deltas 

 in South Bussia ; whilst eastwards it breeds in Northern Turkestan, South-west 

 Siberia, the Baikal district, and probably the valley of the Amoor. A few European 

 birds winter in Holland, Belgium, France, and the Spanish Peninsula, but the 

 majority do so in the basin of the Mediterranean, extending into the African 

 Continent as far south as the Great Dessert, and down the Nile Valley to Nubia. In 

 Asia it is known to pass Mongolia on migration, and to winter throughout India, 



