Family ANATID^. Genus Anas. 



Subfamily Anatinm. 



GARGANEY. 



ANAS QX^CIK—Linnceus. 



Geographical Distribution. — British .- Rare and exceed- 

 ingly local visitor on spring and autumn migration, a few remaining 

 behind in spring to breed in suitable localities. Rarer in Scotland 

 than in England, only accidental in the Orkneys and Shetland, 

 and entirely unknown in the Outer Hebrides. Breeds regularly, 

 and it is said in increasing numbers, in Norfolk, less commonly in 

 Suffolk, and perhaps in a few of the southern English counties It 

 used formerly to breed in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, 

 and in Prestwick Car in Northumberland, but the reclamation of 

 its favourite haunts has driven it to seek nesting places elsewhere. 

 Said by Sir R. Payne-Gallwey to be the rarest of the ordinary 

 Ducks and practically confined to the southern portion, where it 

 has been met with very early in spring and even in winter. 

 Foreign : Southern Palaearctic region ; Oriental region in winter. 

 Rare visitor to the Faroes and Iceland, and only known to have 

 occurred twice in Norway. Breeds in Denmark, Sweden, the 

 Baltic Provinces, Finland, and North-western Russia as far as 

 Archangel. Breeds throughout Central and Southern Europe 

 (although rare in Portugal), the Caucasus, and, eastwards, through 

 Turkestan, and the extreme south of Siberia, probably to the 

 valley of the Amoor. It winters in the basin of the Mediterranean, 

 Black, and Caspian Seas, extending southwards as far as Egypt and 

 Arabia. The Asiatic birds appear to winter in India, Burma, and 

 China (a few lingering to breed in these countries), many parts of 

 the Malay Archipelagb, and in Japan. 



Allied Forms. — A/ias discors, one of the two representative 



