462 



Nestling in down (Sarepta) . Is undistinguishable from the young of the common Sheldrake, except that the 

 brown markings on the upper parts are paler. 



The present species inhabits Southern and Eastern Europe (being rarer in the west), North 

 Africa, and is met with in Asia as far east as Japan. With us in Great Britain it is only known 

 as a rare straggler ; and very probably some, if not most of the specimens recorded as having 

 been obtained, were birds escaped from confinement, as it is not unfrequently kept in a state of 

 semidomestication. The first recorded occurrence appears to be that of one obtained near 

 Blandford, Dorset, in the winter of 1776 ; Selby, who refers (Brit. Orn. ii. p. 293) to this speci- 

 men, adds that he possesses a specimen shot in the south of England; Yarrell speaks of one 

 obtained near Orford, Suffolk, in January 1834 ; and one is said by Hele to have been seen near 

 Blackstakes, in Suffolk, in 1864. In Scotland it has occurred twice, once at Sanday, Orkney, in 

 October 1831, and once in Caithness-shire; and it has twice been recorded from Ireland. 

 Thompson states (B. of Irel. iii. p. 65) that one was shot on the Murrough of Wicklow on the 

 7th July, 1847; and Mr. Blake-Knox says (Zool. 1870, p. 2195) that one was obtained near 

 Tralee, county Kerry, on the 17th August, 1869. Elsewhere in Northern Europe it is a rare 

 straggler. According to Nilsson it has once occurred in Sweden, a male, which was shot on the 

 coast off Stockholm on the 22nd May, 1854, being in the Stockholm Museum ; and Dr. Palmen 

 states (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 372) that a reliable man shot a duck on the Ladoga Lake, in Russia, 

 which, from his description, must have been a Ruddy Sheldrake. It is, however, stated by 

 Sabanaeff not to occur on the Volga above the meadow lands in Samara ; but below that it is 

 common, and in the district of Astrachan it breeds numerously in the steppes. In Germany it 

 is recorded by Naumann as a rare straggler, and has, he adds, " been met with in Silesia, and 

 has occurred on the Bodensee;" but I find no record of its having been obtained in North 

 Germany. According to KJBerbolling it has once occurred in Denmark, one having been shot at 

 Bornholm. I do not find any record of its having been met with in Holland and Belgium ; and 

 Degland and Gerbe do not cite any instance of its occurrence in France. It does not seem to 

 have been met with in Portugal; but in Spain, Colonel Irby writes (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 197), it is 

 said to nest near the mouth of the Guadalquivir, and there is no doubt that it does breed 

 somewhere north of the Straits. He never met with it alive, but has seen a few in the Seville 

 market in spring and late in the autumn. Passing eastward, again, I find it recorded as being 

 very rare in Italy : two specimens are recorded as having been obtained in Tuscany ; and one was 

 obtained near Naples on the 22nd March, 1854. In Sicily it is, according to Doderlein, also 

 rare ; but he states that examples have been procured at Lentini and elsewhere. 



Mr. C. A. Wright records the occurrence of two specimens at Malta, and says that he saw a 

 third example in a collection of Maltese birds. 



In Southern Germany it is likewise rare. The Ritter von Tschusi-Schmidhofen informs me 

 that, according to Dr. A. Fritsch, a pair were seen early in the month of August near Frauenberg, 

 and the male was killed. In Hungary, according to Wagner, one was killed on the Sajo in the 

 spring; and Stetter has once observed it in Siebenburgen on passage. In Greece it is found 

 during the summer, and breeds, Dr. Kriiper says, on the Langada lakes in Macedonia ; and the 

 old males may be seen about the fields, apparently very tame. He saw the young birds on the 

 shores of the lake. The specimens in the Athens Museum were obtained in the months of 



