501 



he saw it on Eyjarfjor'Sr," though he did not procure the specimen. In Norway, Mr. E. Collett 

 writes, it " occurs now and then on the southern coasts, and breeds in several places along the 

 S.W. coast." He records specimens as having been obtained at Mandal in 1830, Grimstad, and 

 Stavanger. He states that Mr. Clauson obtained five young birds and the two parents near 

 Christiansand in the autumn of 1868, and it must thus have bred there. It has been obtained 

 as high up as Sondmor, 62° N. lat. It is a rare Duck in Sweden ; and its distribution in that 

 country is irregular. Mr. Meves writes that he " found it on Gottland and Oland, where it was 

 tolerably numerous during the breeding-season ; and last year nests were found near Norrkoping. 

 I do not know for certain of any localities in Northern Sweden where it breeds ; but several old 

 birds were shot during the spring migration at Norrtelje." I never saw it in Finland ; but in a 

 letter from Professor Malmgren he informs me that this Duck breeds at Uleaborg (65° N. lat), 

 where he himself has seen the young, but it is uncertain if it occurs there every year. In 

 general it is rare in Finland, where it ranges usually up to 60° N. lat. 



Mr. Meves informs me that he met with it " not uncommonly on the Ladoga and Onega 

 Lakes, at the mouth of the Dvina ; and in August not a few used to be sent to the Archangel 

 market. Near Perm I met with a female convoying her newly hatched young (eight in number) 

 on a meadow, who, after trying desperately to save her young, became so shy that she would not 

 allow me to approach within gunshot range. I observed no Shovellers in the Ural, where, how- 

 ever, according to Sabanaeff, it is not rare." Mr. Taczanowski informs me that " this Duck is 

 not rare in Poland during migration; but it breeds in small numbers, and only in the eastern 

 parts of the country." In Northern Germany it is by no means uncommon; and Borggreve 

 states that it " breeds commonly in Mittel-Oderbruch, but never on the neighbouring ponds in 

 the flat country ; on the coast of North Germany it is commonly met with during the winter." 

 Dr. E. Key found it breeding on a pond close to the Salzigen Lake (Wanzleben), and took the 

 eggs on the 18th of May, and again on the 2nd of June. In Denmark it is not uncommon; and 

 I am indebted to Mr. Benzon for a series of eggs and several young birds in down obtained in 

 Jutland. This gentleman informs me that " it breeds here and there on the peninsula, as well as 

 the islands, and both on the coast and also on inland sheets of water, and especially affects the 

 small islands on the fiords. I have on several occasions found the nest on a small island in the 

 Soborg Mose, close to Copenhagen, and on one occasion found one nest with eleven, and another 

 with twelve eggs, close to each other." In Holland and Belgium it is a migrant, but breeds in 

 the former country. 



Degland and Gerbe state that it is common and resident throughout the winter in the south 

 of France, but is merely a passing visitor in the north. Its flesh is highly esteemed, especially 

 by the lower clasess, who call it rouget de riviere (literally " river- mullet"). It winters in 

 Provence, leaving about the end of February. It occurs in Portugal, being included in Professor 

 Barboza du Bocage's list ; and as regards its occurrence in Spain, Mr. Howard Saunders records 

 it as " not uncommon in the ' marisma,' where it probably breeds." 



Passing eastward again we find it, according to Savi, migrating through Tuscany in April, 

 and again in November. Bailly says the same as regards Savoy. Mr. C. A. Wright records it 

 as " one of the commonest of the Maltese Ducks, passing from November till the beginning of 

 spring." Lord Lilford met with it commonly during the winter in the Ionian Islands; and the 



