Family ANATID^. Genus Anas. 



Subfamily Anatinm. 



SHOVELLER. 



ANAS CLYPEATA— Z/«««Y- 



Geographical Distribution. — British .• Fairly common 

 winter visitor to the British Islands, but practically resident in 

 many localities, and is found both inland and on the coast. 

 Becomes rarer in Wales and in the southern and western districts 

 of England, and the west of Scotland, being very rare in the 

 Outer Hebrides and on the Orkneys, and appears never to have 

 visited the Shetlands. Its recorded breeding places are as follows. 

 England : Shires of Dorset, Kent, Hertford, Cambridge, Norfolk, 

 Lincoln, Nottingham, Huntingdon, Stafford, York, Durham, 

 Northumberland, and Cumberland. Wales : no reliable data. 

 Scotland : Kirkcudbright, East Lothian, Dumbarton, Argyle, 

 Elgin, Ross, and Sutherland, and the island of Tiree, one of the 

 Hebrides. Ireland : Queen's County, Galway (Lough Derg on 

 the Shannon), Co. Dublin, Co. Antrim. During winter also the 

 Shoveller is much more frequent in the south of Ireland than 

 the north. Foreign : Circumpolar, northern Nearctic and Pals- 

 arctic regions, more southerly in winter ; Oriental and extreme 

 northern limits of Neotropical regions in winter. Breeds through- 

 out the subarctic regions of Europe, Asia, and America, from 

 about the latitude of the Arctic Circle south to lat. 50°. Below 

 this latitude it becomes more local, and not so abundant during 

 the breeding season, although it nests in small numbers in the 

 west Palsearctic region as far as the African shores of the Medi- 

 terranean, and in the east Palaearctic region as far south as 

 Turkestan and Mongolia ; whilst in the Nearctic region it breeds 

 very sparingly in the north of the United States. Its winter 



