PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 203 



the mainland, and on all the island groups, having been first recorded as breeding 

 in the Outer Hebrides in 1901. In Ireland also it breeds in all districts in limited 

 numbers. Outside the British Isles it nests in Iceland, and on the Continent it 

 is generally distributed in suitable localities from Lapland and the shores of the 

 Arctic Ocean hi North Russia to the shores of the Mediterranean, but it is com- 

 paratively scarce in the countries of Southern Europe, and it is doubtful whether 

 it breeds in Italy ; has only exceptionally been found nesting in Spain, and does 

 not breed in Greece as far as is known. It nests in Sardinia, and is said to have 

 bred in the Azores (Godman), while in Asia it ranges across the whole continent, 

 east to Kamtschatka and north to about 70. It breeds in the Kuriles and has 

 occurred in Alaska, but is replaced by an allied race in North America, though it 

 has strayed to Greenland and the eastern coasts. In winter its migrations extend 

 to Madeira, the Canaries, and North Africa, south to Haussaland, the Blue Nile 

 and Abyssinia ; while in Asia it ranges to Socotra, the Persian Gulf, India, 

 Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, China, Formosa, Japan, and also to the Philippines. 

 [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. Found all the year round in our islands : the birds which 

 nest with us probably include both resident and summer visitant individuals. 

 The species is, however, most abundant as a winter visitor and a bird of 

 passage from Northern Europe. The autumn immigration takes place between 

 6th September and 28th November, but the season of the passage move- 

 ments is given as from 30th August to 29th November ; the spring passage 

 season is from 25th March to llth May (cf. Clarke, Studies in Bird-Migration, 

 1912, pp. 136, 160). It is resident in Yorkshire, and the first immigrants 

 appear in August, great flights following hi September and October, after which 

 the birds disperse ; the return passage takes place in March and April (cf. 

 Nelson, B. of Yorks., 1907, p. 455). In Kent the immigrants appear early in 

 September, and are further increased in hard weather : the birds nesting in that 

 county are summer visitors, arriving in March and moving south early in August 

 (cf. Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, p. 355). A few nest ha North Wales, but in 

 whiter it becomes abundant (cf. Forrest, Fauna N. Wales, 1907, p. 281). The 

 immigrant birds appear in Ireland late hi October or early in November, after- 

 wards dispersing (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, p. 198). Large 

 numbers of teal have been marked on passage in Denmark, and the following is 

 a summary of the results given in the First Report : One hundred and two birds 

 were caught in a decoy on the island of Fano, off South-western Denmark, hi 

 October 1907 ; these were " ringed " and released, and twenty-one of them were 



