527 



Mr. Swinhoe has also obtained it in Formosa. Pallas gives its habitat as the northern latitudes 

 from the Jenesei throughout all Eastern Siberia, more frequently in the Trans-Baikal lakes and 

 through all the districts of the Lena. Professor Brandt, who has written an excellent memoir 

 on this species, says that it was brought from Kamschatka by Von Kittlitz ; and the Dutch 

 naturalists have obtained it in Japan. 



Middendorff states that in Siberia " it arrived at Udskoj-Ostrog on the 3rd of May, and on 

 the 14th of May was observed on the Utschur. It breeds abundantly in the Stanowoj mountains, 

 nearly as high as the summit. On the 4th of August the young at Udskoj-Ostrog were full- 

 grown and feathered, excepting the wing-quills, which were shooting." 



Schrenck (Amur-Reise, p. 480) writes as follows : — 



" Anas falcata is the commonest Duck throughout the Amoor country. According to 

 Pallas, it is one of the first to arrive in the spring in Siberia. At the Nickolaieffsk Post I shot 

 the first specimen in the spring of 1855, on the 6th (18th) May ; but it must occur there as early 

 as the latter part of April, as Middendorff saw it arrive at Udskoi-Ostrog on the 3rd of May, and 

 at Utschur on the 14th. On the 28th of May I observed it at Borbi, above the Marinskin Post, 

 in pairs, the male being in full plumage^ The old male which Mr. Maack procured on the 24th 

 of May (5th of June) at Albasin, on the Upper Amoor, also was in full plumage, and had not 

 moulted. In the summer of 1856 I shot on the Iai river, on the 1st (13th) of June, an old 

 female, which was without a male, and was probably engaged in incubating. More than a 

 month later, on the 6th (18th) of July (1855), Mr. Maack shot at the mouth of the Ssungari an 

 adult female in very old and worn plumage, but showing no sign of moulting. 



" Middendorff observed young birds of this Duck at Udskoi-Ostrog, on the 4th of August, 

 with the quills just shooting. The above-mentioned young female, with wing-feathers still 

 imperfect, I shot on the 22nd of August, at the mouth of the Komar river, on the Amoor. I 

 found young birds, with the wing-feathers fully grown, at the Nickolaieffsk Post, on the 8th 

 (20th) of September, but on the 19th of September (1st of October) they showed no signs of the 

 new full plumage, whereas one young male, shot on the 20th September, 1846, on the Ielofka 

 river, in Kamschatka, by Mr. Wossnessenski, showed a couple of half-grown feathers on the 

 shoulder. These young birds were, in the autumn of 1854, in numerous small flocks of from 

 three to five individuals, probably portions of broken-up families, on the Kamr and Litsch rivers, 

 and on the small tributaries of the Amoor, a little above the Nickolaieffsk Post. 



" On the upper part of the river I found this Duck, like Anas crecca, swimming along the 

 grassy banks and carried down by the current seeking food, querulously uttering a low quacking 

 note. Here, on the 20th of September, on a small river near the mouth of the Urutschi river, 

 I procured in this manner three of these Ducks, within a very few minutes, without moving from 

 the place." 



Radde remarks : — " I mostly obtained adult males in full plumage The first of these 



Ducks arrived in the night of the 12-1 3th of April at Tarei Nor. The stomachs of those shot 

 on the 13th I found full of quartz pieces, and only a few shoots of plants at the opening. In the 

 Central Amoor A. falcata arrived as soon as the 4th of April, 1858; on the plains above the 

 Bureja mountains, on the 2nd of May, they were mostly paired, and after the 9th only paired 

 birds were to be seen. In Central Irkut they did not arrive before the 15th of April. As early 



