168 ANATID^. 



Boschas=l3o(rKas, a small kind of Duok in Aristotle ; apparently the genuine 

 forms are fSaanas and paiTKas. Origin unknown (c/. H. T. Wiarton, 'Ibis, 

 1879, p. 452) ; perhaps confused with /3oi7kid=I feed, in popular etymology. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Resident, generally 

 distributed ; also a very numerous Winter Visitor. 



General Distribution. — The Wild Duck is found over the 

 greater part of the northern Hemisphere. It breeds in 

 Iceland, throughout Europe south of the Arctic Circle, in 

 the Azores, and in north Africa; in Asia from Turkestan to 

 Ohina and Japan. In winter it visits the Canary Islands, 

 Madeira, and the Azores, north Africa southwards to the 

 Tropic of Ciuicer, India, and Burma. In North America it 

 inhabits the temperate portions and winters as far south as 

 Panama. In Greenland a resident race has been distinguished 

 as A. b. conboschas Brehm. 



Anas strepera. Gadwall. 



Anas strepera Linnmif!, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 125 : Sweden. 



Chaulelasmus streperus (Linn.} ; B. 0. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, 



p. 125 ; Salvadoi'i, Cat. Blnh B. M. xxvii. 1895, p. 221. 

 Anas strepera Linn. ; Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 425. 



Strepera =noisj. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Resident, breeding 

 in considerable numbers in Norfolk and Suffolk, where it was 

 originally introduced, and of late years in two localities in 

 the south of Scotland. A comparatively scarce and uncertain 

 Winter Visitor in most other parts, including Ireland, but 

 tolerably numerous in the Hebrides and especially so in Tiree. 



General Distribution. — The Gadwall breeds in the temperate 

 regions of the northern Hemisphere, including Iceland. In 

 winter it visits the basin of the Mediterranean, and the inland 

 waters of north Africa, following the Nile valley to the 

 Sudan and Abyssinia ; it is very numerous in northern 

 India, but less so in China and Japan. In America it 

 winters in the southern United States and Mexico, wan- 

 dering to the Bermudas and West Indies. 



