GARGANY DUCK. 245 



dwelling, within a temperature above the freezing point. 

 The gargany seems to be abundant in Holland; and it 

 might, therefore, be imported in sufficient numbers to 

 guard against such casualties. 



This species is no less delicate in its shape than in its 

 constitution; for it is quite unknown in the northern 

 regions, while on the warm shores of the Mediterranean 

 it is by no means uncommon : we frequently met with 

 it on the Faro lakes, or rather marshes, near Messina ; 

 and also on those of Leontini and Syracuse. In Britain, 

 it is so rare as to be considered only an occasional 

 visiter; and, even then, seems only to be found in Norfolk 

 and the warmer counties; for we are unacquainted with 

 any authenticated instance of its having been found in 

 the North of England, far less in the Orkney Islands, as 

 some writers have intimated. In its food and manners 

 it seems to resemble the common teal; feeding, as it is 

 alleged, upon larva, slugs, and insects *, as well as upon 

 the seeds of different aquatic plants, which it sifts in the 

 usual manner. It breeds only in temperate climates; 

 building its nest among thick plants and shrubs, in low 

 and damp meadows or marshes : the eggs are about ten 

 or a dozen, and of a yellowish green colour. 



The gargany is stated to be widely spread over the 

 northern parts of Asia, as far as the frigid regions of 

 Kamtschatka : but this we do not believe ; for, certainly, 

 if it could endure such a climate, it would have been 

 found also in the North of England, and even in Scot- 

 land. We are confirmed in its being an extra-arctic 

 species, by the localities mentioned by Temminck, who 

 evidently considers it as spreading only to the central pro- 

 vinces of Europe ; nor is it known in North America. 

 We rather think that the common teal, or some other 

 species, has been mistaken for this, by such persons as 

 have given it a northern habitation. 



The plumage of the male is as follows : — Crown of 

 the head blackish ; which colour is deeper on the chin 



* This alleged fact, however, seems to be disproved by the foregoing 

 observations of Fresch. 



