216 
ANAS CRECCA 
breeder on the lower Volga, at Sarepta, and Seebohm (1882) says the same for the steppes of Astra- 
can. 
In Asia the Common Teal seems to breed throughout the Caucasus, of course only in proper 
localities (Radde, 1884). Robson [fide Dresser, 1871-81) also states that it breeds in the interior of 
. . Asia Minor, but such statements are too vague to be of much value. I have no doubt 
A CIO 
that the species nests in the northern sections, and G. C. Taylor’s statement (1872) 
that it was common at Ismid in late May has already been quoted. Radde (1884), moreover, says 
the species breeds sparingly on the lakes of High Armenia and in the Karabagh Mountains. The fact 
that Tristram (1884) met with the Teal in Palestine during June lends probability to his statement 
Asia Minor that it may breed there, but the exact status of the species throughout Asia Minor 
and Persia is still so undetermined that I feel it is better to be conservative in including 
Persia records which seem very unusual, though of course not Improbable. Zarudny (1911) 
says it may breed in the Zagross district of Persia, and C. Swinhoe (1882) thinks it may breed in 
southern Afghanistan. In Transcaspia it imdoubtedly breeds, and has been recorded as nesting at 
Merv (Radde and Walter, 1889) and on the lower Tedshen (Zarudny, 1886, 1889-90). According to 
Severtzoff (Dresser, 1876) it breeds in Turkestan, excepting the southwe.st sections, and Schalow 
(1908) and Hume and Marshall (1879) both state that it breeds in western Turkestan. North of the 
Caspian it breeds all over the Kirgis (Nazarow, 1887) specifically in the Middle Kirgis (Suschkin, 
1914). It is very difficult to give definite statements as to the breeding of the species in the district 
of the northwest Himalayas. Personally I am inclined to believe that this Teal does not ordinarily 
breed south of the mountains of northern Afghanistan nor east, in this particular district, of the 
western Tien-shan and Issyk-kul. The evidence at hand is Schalow’s (1908) statement that it 
probably nests in western Pamir and the Altai, the testimony of Laubmann (1913) that it breeds on 
the Naryn and on the Tekes, Severtzoff’s (1883, p. 76) remark that it probably breeds in Pamir, and 
Smallbones’s (1906) statement that it apparently breeds on the Hi River and on the Issyk-kul. 
Schalow (1908) states emphatically that the species does not breed in Yarkand, although it has been 
once or twice met with on the upper Tarim. Adams’s [fide Hume and Marshall, 1879) statement that 
the species is quite common throughout the year in Kashmir must be accepted with reserve. To 
recapitulate, the southern breeding limit of the species in this very confused region is most probably 
formed by the mountains of northern Afghanistan, the southern boundary of Pamir, the eastern 
boundary of Pamir, the western boundary of the Tarim desert, the western boundary of the Dsungari 
desert, the Altai and thence east along the northern boundary of the Mongolian deserts. As to 
whether the species breeds in the eastern Tien-shan I find no evidence which might lead to a decision 
one way or another. North of Turkestan the species seems to breed abundantly throughout western 
Siberia, becoming more common in the north. North of Lakes Balkasch and Saissan-nor, Finsch 
(1879) found it abundant on the steppe lakes between Semipalatinsk and Omsk, on the Arkat Hills 
and on the Marka-kul, as well as on the Ala-kul. From what he says the Teal seems to be common 
all along the Ob River even to its mouth, for it was found at Obdorsk in the middle of July, on the 
tundra lakes in late July, and on the Shchucha River (a tributary of the Ob joining it on the left 
below Obdorsk) in early August. Ushakov (1913) says it is as common a breeder as the Mallard, if 
not more common, in the Tobolsk Go\"ernment. Apparently it breeds even farther north, for Zitkov 
(1912) found it on the Yamal Peninsula. Passing eastward to the mouth of the Jenesei it is common 
north to about 70° (Seebohm, 1879); according to Popham (1897, 1898) and Palmen (1887) 70° 30' is 
the northern limit in this region. Information concerning the middle Jenesei is very scarce, but 
Pawlowski (fide Taczanowski, 1893) found it apparently breeding on the Wiljui River and from the 
upper Jenesei it has been recorded breeding at Minussinsk and in the Russian Altai (Suschkin, 
1913), while Radde (1863) met with the species in the eastern Sajan Mountains in May. It breeds 
south of Lake Baikal to the northern boundary of the Mongolian deserts; at the source of the Amur 
(Radde, 1863), in Dauria (Taczanowski, 1874), on the mountains of the middle Amur (Bolau, 1881; 
