The Common Sheld-Duck. ^°' 



situations at a considerable distance from the sea, but always near some water, 

 artificial or natural lakes, where it can conduct its young. 



The Slleld-Duck is found nesting through the whole of temperate Europe 

 and Asia, from the shores of Holland to Japan, and from the Baltic to the Black 

 Sea. In Europe it generally frequents the districts close to the .coast, but in 

 Asia the shores of great inland seas, high central lakes, and the salt steppes of 

 southern Siberia. 



On the west coast of Europe its summer range extends as far north as the 

 Lofoden Islands, but not north of latitude 70°. It has once occurred in Iceland, 

 and once in Fseroe ; and said to have been also seen and shot in the Varanger 

 Fjord. It is very common in some parts of the Baltic, the coasts of Deninark, 

 and southern Scandinavia, but specially on the North Frisian Islands, and those 

 fringing the northern shores of Holland. On the east coast of Great Britain it 

 is much more plentiful in the winter months than in summer. 



The Sheld-Duck is a regular winter visitor to the Portugese coast ; also in 

 the vast marismas and swamps at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, where it breeds. 

 According to Prof. H. H. Giglioli, it is not uncommon in Italy and breeding on the 

 coast. It occurs also in Tunis in winter. In Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor, 

 it is less common than the Ruddy Sheld-Duck, T. casarca. Messrs. Elwes and 

 Buckley found it not uncommon near Kustendji. Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard saw 

 it on the lake near Famagusta, in Cyprus, in winter. At Astrakhan very common 

 in summer, and nests in fox-holes, and sometimes in the graves of the Kirghiz. 

 Very rare in Transylvania except in hard winters. According to Severtzoff 

 common in Turkestan and nesting in many districts. In the Russian expedition 

 of 1877, 1878, N. A. Severtzow found one on Katir-kul, one of the lakes on the 

 high Pamir. It is a winter visitor to China and India, and resident in Japan 

 all through the year. 



In the British Islands it nests sparingly, at the present day, in all suitable 

 localities where it is free from persecution and molestation, excepting perhaps the 

 "^outh coast of England, as far as the Land's-end, where Mr. Rodd says, in Corn- 

 wall, it is only a winter visitor. Formerly it used to breed in some numbers on 

 the Welsh coast, on the Cheshire side of the estuary of the Dee, the Lancashire 

 coast, and in the estuaries of the Duddon and Ravenglass, and Upper Solway, in 

 Cumberland. 



Mr. G. H. Caton Haigh {in litt) says : — " it is an extremely common bird on 

 the coast of Merionethshire both as a winter visitor and a breeding species. In 

 the former season it appears in flocks about the latter end of November, the 

 numbers are very variable, but in severe weather is sometimes present in immense 



