283 



In Ireland, as in England and Scotland, it used formerly to be common, but now appears to 

 be a tolerably rare straggler, but has occurred in most parts of the island. 



It is stated (Vid. Medd. 1872, p. 133) to have on one occasion straggled as far north as Green- 

 land ; but I do not find any record of its having been obtained in Iceland, and it is said to be entirely 

 wanting in Norway; but is found, Nilsson states, in the large morasses of Sweden from Skane up 

 to Sodermanland or Upland. Kasten states that it was formerly found in the ponds of the large 

 park called Djurgarden, outside Stockholm ; and according to Lundberg it has of late years been 

 observed in the reeds outside the town of Koping. Near Gothenburg it is less common. It arrives 

 in Sweden, Nilsson adds, about the middle of April and leaves in September, though stragglers 

 have been known to remain as late as November. It is an exceedingly rare straggler to Southern 

 Finland ; but Dr. Palmen (Finl. Fogl. ii. pp. 300, 301) records several instances of its occurrence 



o 



there, and adds that a Finnish-killed specimen is in the collection of the Abo Gymnasium. 



Mr. Meves heard it near Sermaks, in Northern Russia, on his journey from St. Petersburg to 



Archangel ; and Mr. Sabanaeff says that it is rare in the Government of Jaroslaf, but commoner 



in that of Moscow. In the reedy portions of the Bashkir lakes he found it common; and it 



breeds on the lakes in the Kaslinsk and Keshtemsk Ural. It does not occur in the Ural higher 



than in about 57° N. lat. I have no data respecting its occurrence in Poland, where doubtless it 



is found in suitable localities. According to Borggreve it is a rare summer visitant to North 



Germany. Gloger states that it breeds regularly in Silesia ; and Borggreve himself adds that it 



nests in Mittel-Oderbruch. Boeck obtained it in Prussia ; and it is stated to breed in Anhalt, 



Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, and even on the Mosel. In Denmark, Mr. A. Benzon writes to me : — 



" It was in former times by no means rare in our lakes and morasses ; but as these latter have 



during the last half century been drained it has become rare. Specimens, however, are shot now 



and again in various parts of the country ; and our Zoological Gardens possess live examples 



caught here. I possess specimens in my own collection as follows : — an adult male from Utterslev 



Morass, near Copenhagen, shot in September 1862 ; an adult male shot at Stenbymolle on Moen 



on the 2nd April, 1864; and a female (in which an egg ready for exclusion was found) from 



Guds-Koog, in Schleswig, obtained late in April 1867. I do not know of any instance of its 



having bred in Denmark proper of late years; but it is known to breed now and then in the 



marshes of Schleswig and Holstein." In Holland it is common in many parts of the country, 



and breeds there. Mr. Labouchere remarks that before the reeds have acquired a sufficient 



height to serve as a good shelter, it roosts in trees. It is rare in the interior of Belgium, but 



commoner towards the Dutch frontier ; and in the north of France a few remain to breed ; but 



elsewhere in this latter country it is a migrant, except in the southern provinces, where a few 



remain throughout the winter. Professor Barboza du Bocage includes it in his list of Portuguese 



birds as common ; and Lord Lilford, Colonel Irby, and Mr. Howard Saunders all met with it in 



Spain, where it breeds, and some few appear to remain in the country all the winter, though 



the major portion migrate southward in the autumn. Lord Lilford obtained its eggs in the 



Marisma near Seville, where, Mr. Saunders says, it is tolerably abundant. Mr. E. von Homeyer 



states that it breeds in the Balearic islands, and that he repeatedly heard its cry at the Prat. 



In Savoy, Bailly says, it occurs during the two seasons of passage, and occasionally winters 



there, but never remains to breed ; and Salvadori writes that it is common in the marshy 



