130 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 



islands; at the present day, however, it only resorts regularly to one county, some 

 districts in Norfolk, but occurs sparingly on migration in various parts of the 

 country both in spring and autumn, usually in the former season. In North 

 Lincolnshire and Holdemess I have numerous notes of occurrences in the spring, 

 from the middle of March to the end of the third week in April, so that in this 

 district at least it can hardly be considered an uncommon species. Between the 

 years 1833-4 and 1867-8, twenty-nine Garganeys were taken in the decoy at Ashby, 

 and all of these, as far as is ascertainable, in April, and from the frequency of its 

 occurrence in spring in the north-western part of this county there can be no 

 doubt it at one time remained to nest. 



In Yorkshire it occurs more frequently in Holdemess; on the 21st of May, 

 in 1882, Mr. T. C. Swailes, of Beverley, found a nest with nine eggs, almost 

 stepping on the Duck before she rose. 



The Garganey is a rare visitor to Ireland and Scotland, but not seen in the 

 breeding season, and we can find no notice of its nest being found in either 

 country. It has occasionally been obtained in winter. Mr. Harvie-Brown, on the 

 authority of Edwards, records two shot in Moray, in December, 1840. In Cum- 

 berland it has occurred in spring and early autumn ; also two in Dublin Bay 

 in the winter of 1880-81. In Norfolk, however, where it is the most common, I 

 can find no notice of a winter occurrence. 



The Garganey is not a species which goes very far north to breed. It nests 

 in many parts of Europe, but nowhere numerously, except perhaps in East Prussia, 

 where, according to Mr. E. Hartert, it breeds in great numbers on the vast fresh- 

 water basins known as the Kurische and Frische Haflf, formed by the rivers Pregel 

 and Niemen. In Russia it goes as far north as Archangel, also breeding not 

 uncommonly in Denmark, but only casually in Scandinavia. At Heligoland ' it 

 has only been recorded three times in half-a-century ; rare also in Faeroe. In 

 Transylvania Messrs. C. G. Danford. and Harvie-Brown report it as common on 

 lakes and rivers, and Messrs. Elwes and Buckley say in Bulgaria it seems to take 

 the place of the Common Teal, and remains to nest. Mr. W. Eagle Clarke saw 

 two drakes on a sheet of water in the Camargue (the delta of the Rhone) on May 

 i8th, 1895, a locality where in all probability the nest will be found sooner or 

 later. Lord Lilford says a few pairs nest in Andalucia, in Southern Spain. In 

 Portugal it arrives in large numbers on the spring migration, but not to breed. 

 The winter range of the Garganey in Europe covers the mainland of the whole 

 basin of the Mediterranean and the great islands, as Corsica, Sardinia, and Cyprus ; 

 in Egypt it is tolerably abundant up to the end of April. 



Across subarctic Asia the Garganey's breeding range extends a long distance 



