322 



In Scandinavia it is exceedingly rare, and Mr. Collett informs me that he only knows of two 

 specimens having been obtained in the south of Norway — one in 1832 and one in 1836. The 

 instances of its occurrence in Sweden are not very reliable. Linnseus wrote that it was said to 

 occur in Westerbotten and Lapland ; and Nilsson saw specimens in Paykull's and Thunberg's 

 collection, said to have come thence ; but he remarks that these gentlemen were not altogether 

 reliable in their statements. Sadelin (Fauna Fennica, p. 25) writes that it occasionally straggles 

 from Lapland to Northern Finland ; but this may be doubted, as Professor Malmgren informs 

 me that there is but one undoubted instance of its occurrence, one, now in the collection at 

 Fredrikshamn, having been obtained on Hogland, in the Gulf of Finland. 



It has, Ulianine states, been once killed at Archangel ; Sabanaeff records it from the 

 Government of Vladimir ; and Bogdanoff met with it in the spring at Lizran. Sabanaeff found 

 it breeding on the skirts of the Shadrinsk and Cheliabiansk districts, and met with it as high as 

 56|° N. lat. It is, Mr. Taczanowski informs me, " accidental and very rare in Poland, and, 

 according to Professor Kessler, equally so in the Ukraine. Tyzenhauz states that it nests in the 

 marshes of Silesia and Lithuania, as also in Courland and Livonia. I once saw a flock of five 

 on the Vistula, near Warsaw ; and in the Warsaw Museum there is a fine male which was killed 

 near Bozese." Borggreve records one instance of its occurrence at Danzig in June, two near 

 Stettin, one on the Rhine ; and it has been twice met with by Von Negelin on the coast of the 

 North Sea. In Northern Germany generally it appears to be a rare bird ; and it is exceedingly 

 rare in Denmark. Kjserbolling states that he saw the head of one which was shot in Jutland, 

 and that, according to Mr. Teilmann, it has been shot on Fano. Mr. Scheel also showed him 

 the head and wings of one shot in Northern Seeland in 1848 ; and he refers to one having been 

 said to have been shot near the Ringkjobing Fiord in 1850. 



According to De Selys it occurs in spring and autumn on the coasts of Flanders, being rare 

 on the Scheldt, and very rare on the Meuse. At the same seasons, but even more rarely, it visits 

 Luxembourg. In Holland, Schlegel writes, " it is found in the neighbourhood of the large 

 rivers, at Biesbosch, Nieuwerkerk, on the Ijssel at Rozenburg, and on the Maas ; it breeds in 

 Holland, arriving there in April and leaving in September." Baron von Droste-Htilshoff states 

 that it has not been observed on Borkum ; but he remarks (J. f. O. 1868, p. 406) that it is 

 curious that it should be so numerous between Norden and Greetzieht, at Just, and Nordernei. 

 Messrs. Degland and Gerbe write that "it is of regular passage in spring and autumn in the 

 north of France, and is not rare at those seasons on the coasts of Picardy, Normandy, and 

 Brittany, occurring more rarely in the central provinces." Professor Barboza du Bocage includes 

 it in his list of the birds of Portugal as occurring at Alemtejo ; and it is also found in Spain, 

 where, as I am informed by Lord Lilford, it was "very abundant in the marshes of the Guadal- 

 quivir in May 1869: it occasionally breeds in that district. I lately obtained two eggs taken 

 near San Lucar de Barnameda last year, 1872." Mr. Howard Saunders, writing on the orni- 

 thology of Southern Spain (Ibis, 1871, p. 394), says that it breeds in the wooded " pajareras," 

 but is not very common ; and Major Irby informs me that "it is common in the marshes on both 

 sides of the Straits of Gibraltar, arriving in April and leaving in November. Some remain to 

 nest near Casa Vieja." 



Passing eastward again, I find it recorded by Bailly as rare in Savoy, and by Savi as also 

 rare in Tuscany, generally occurring in the spring. 



