PKELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 245 



England prior to 1849, when it was reported as nesting in Yorkshire, but since that 

 time it has spread with great rapidity over England. One of the earliest centres 

 of distribution was in Nottinghamshire, where it was breeding in 1854. At the 

 present time it breeds in most of the northern counties, also probably in all the 

 east and south coast counties west to Devon, as well as in Somerset and Surrey, in 

 Herts, Beds, and Bucks, and in the northern midlands from Salop and Stafford to 

 Derby and Nottingham. In several of the east midland counties, if not already 

 established, it will probably become so within a short period. In Wales it certainly 

 breeds in Anglesey, and probably also in Merioneth. In Scotland its distribution 

 has been traced in detail by Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown up to 1896 (Annals Scot. 

 Nat. Hist., 1896, pt. i. pp. 3-22), from which it appears that the earliest dates of 

 breeding in Scotland date no farther back than 1875, when it was recorded from the 

 Tay and Forth areas, while in 1877 it was found nesting in Tweed, and the following 

 year in Sutherland. It may now be said to be almost general in Scotland, having 

 extended its range to the Inner and Outer Hebrides (1903) as well as the Orkneys, 

 but it is still absent as a breeding species from the West Ross coast. In Ireland there 

 is no real evidence of breeding before 1879, but here its spread has been equally rapid, 

 and it is now established in all four provinces, ranging west to Kerry (1896), Clare 

 (1895 ?), Galway (1906), Mayo (1903), and probably Donegal, while in some districts 

 of the west of Ireland it is extraordinarily plentiful. Outside the British Isles 

 it is said to have bred on the Faeroes in 1872 ; was first noticed on Iceland in 1895, 

 and now breeds in small numbers ; while on the Continent it ranges to Finmark in 

 Norway and Sm&land N. to the Russian border in Sweden, while in Finland it is 

 commonest in the north and central parts, and in Russia ranges from Russian 

 Lapland to about 50 N. hi the Kieff government and 48 on the Volga. From 

 the Baltic provinces it extends to North and Middle Germany, but is absent from 

 the south, while in Denmark it has only rarely been known to breed, and is scarce 

 also in Holland. In South-eastern Europe it has extended its range to the 

 Dobrogea and probably Bulgaria, while recently it has been found breeding in 

 Bosnia, Montenegro, and Herzegovina. In Asia its range extends west from 

 Transcaucasia east to Dauria and Ussuria, north to 68-70 in West Siberia and 

 69 4' in East Siberia. During the winter it migrates south to the Mediterranean 

 region ; Madeira, North Africa from Marocco to Egypt, Nubia and Abyssinia (once 

 in Liberia) ; Asia to Arabia, the Persian Gulf, Northern India, Burma, South 

 China, Formosa, Japan, and the Kuriles ; also the Philippine Isles, Great Sunda, 

 Marianne, and Pelew groups. [F. c. B. J.] 

 VOL. IV. 2 I 



