370 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family ANATID^. Genus QUERQUEDULA. 



Subfamily ANATINM. 



QARQANEY. 



QUERQUEDULA CIECIA (Lmnaus). 



Anas circia, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 203 (1766) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 551 



(1885) ; Lilford, Col. Pig. Brit. B. pt. xiii. (1890) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. B. 



p. 234 (1893) ; Seebohm, Col. Pig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 41, pi. 16 (1896). 

 Querquedula circia (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 55 (1852) ; Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 



513, pi. 427 (1871); Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4, iv. p. 393 (1885); Salvador!, Cat. B. 



Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 293 (1895). 

 Querquedula querquedula (Linn.), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. ii. p. 291 (1896). 



Geographical distribution British: The Garganey is a rare and 

 exceedingly local visitor to our area on spring and autumn migration, a few 

 remaining behind in spring to breed in suitable localities. It becomes rarer in 

 Scotland than in England, of only accidental occurrence in the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands, and entirely unknown in the Outer Hebrides. It breeds regularly, 

 and it is said in increasing numbers, in Norfolk, less commonly in Suffolk, and 

 perhaps in a few of the southern English counties. It used formerly to breed in 

 Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, and in Prestwick Car in Northumberland, 

 but the reclamation of its favourite haunts has driven ib to seek nesting places 

 elsewhere. It is said by Sir R. Payne-Gallwey to be the rarest of the ordinary 

 Ducks in Ireland, and practically confined to the southern portion of the country 

 where it has been met with very early in spring and even in winter. Foreign : 

 Southern Palaearctic region ; Oriental region in winter. It is a rare visitor to 

 the Faroes and Iceland, and only known to have occurred twice in Norway. It 

 breeds in Denmark, Sweden, the Baltic Provinces, Finland, and North-western 

 Russia as far as Archangel. It also breeds throughout Central and Southern 

 Europe (although rare in Portugal), the Caucasus, and eastwards through Tur- 

 kestan and the extreme south of Siberia (Mr. Popham records it from as far north 

 as Yeneseisk in the valley of the Yenisei), probably to the valley of the Amoor. 

 It winters in the basin of the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, extending 

 southwards as far as Egypt and Arabia. The Asiatic birds appear to winter in 

 India, Burmah and China (a few lingering to breed in these countries), in many 

 parts of the Malay Archipelago, and in Japan. 



