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counties — so much so that, according to Mr. Lubbock, a single egger took one hundred and sixty 

 dozen in the marshes near Potter Heigham in 1821 ; and Messrs. Paget wrote in 1834 that a 

 Yarmouth game-dealer was then in the habit of sending between six and seven hundred eggs to 

 the London and other markets every week during the season. Mr. Stevenson, who quotes both 

 the above references, says that " in the ' Broad ' district the falling off in their numbers is very 

 marked. Drainage and egging combined have here almost exterminated them in places." In 

 the north of England and Scotland it becomes commoner, and is, Mr. Gray writes (B. of W. of 

 Scotland, p. 263), " very abundant throughout the western counties of Scotland, and, indeed, over 

 the whole of North Britain, with the exception of some parts of Sutherland and Caithness. It 

 is very generally distributed in the breeding-season on many of the cultivated uplands, and is 

 found in suitable places in great numbers, extending to the inner islands, but becoming much 

 scarcer westward of that group." In Shetland, according to the late Dr. Saxby, it used formerly 

 to be a somewhat rare species; but between 1854 and 1858 a colony of rather large size was 

 founded on the south side of the voe at Balta Sound ; and as the birds have not been molested, 

 it is becoming a common species on that island. 



In Ireland it is, owing to the prevalence of swampy localities, a common species throughout 

 the island, being met with at all seasons of the year — in the winter collected, as elsewhere, in 

 flocks, and in the summer scattered about in localities where they breed. 



It is an extremely rare straggler in Greenland. Professor Bernhardt records (Ibis, 1861, 

 p. 9) the occurrence of one at Julianehaab in 1847, and of a second on the 7th January, 1820, 

 near Fiskensesset ; and, according to Faber, it occurs in Iceland, where, in the south-western 

 districts, it is called " Isa-Kraka," which means Ice-Crow. It has not been known to breed 

 in either of these countries, although, being a very hardy bird, it might well remain to breed. 

 Captain Feilden says that " it appears now and again in the Faeroes in spring and winter ; 

 Muller observed five on the 5th March, 1847, in a flock; in the winter of 1857 he saw several; 

 and on the 20th November 1867 he had one brought to him at Thorshavn." It appears to be 

 a common summer resident in Southern and Central Scandinavia. Collett says that " vast 

 numbers breed at Jsederen and Listerland, in Christiansand Stift, and it is tolerably common 

 along the west coast, both on the mainland and especially on the islands up to Smolen, but 

 becomes rarer northward to Nordland, and does not pass above the arctic circle, but one was 

 shot on the Varanger fiord in May 1868. It visits the southern fiords regularly in the spring 

 and autumn, but is rare in the interior." In Sweden, according to Nilsson, it is one of the 

 commonest "Waders in the southern provinces, but has decreased in numbers of latter years. It 

 is seen here and there in Halland, and is common in the islands of Bohus Liin ; in the interior 

 it ranges as far north as Wermland, and on the east coast as far as Upland. It arrives very 

 early in the spring, about the middle of February or from then to the middle of March, and 

 leaves again late in September or in October. In Finland it only occurs (except as a rare 

 straggler) in the southern parts of the country. Dr. Palmen writes (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 103) that 

 it arrives near Helsingfors late in March, and Nordenskjold obtained young birds at Mantsala. 

 It breeds in the south-western portion of Finland at Aminne, at the mouth of the Salo river. 

 Bergstrand states that it occurs on Aland ; and Sahlberg has shot it at Tammerfors (61° 32' N. 

 lat.'), where it breeds yearly on the Hatanpaa' estate. It rarely straggles far north ; but one was 



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