COMMON SHELDRAKE 209 



Hungarian Monarchy, is that of a specimen taken on June 22, 1907, in Moravia (von Tschusi zu 

 Schmidhoffen, Zool. Garten, vol. 49, p. 276, 1908). It never breeds regularly any- Moravia 

 where south of the Carpathians. The two records of its nesting in Switzerland at Bas Switzer- 

 Valais and in the Sarine Valley, are regarded, and I believe justly so, as very doubt- land 

 ful (Fatio, 1904). 



In Russia the Sheldrake breeds on the coasts of the Baltic Provinces, in Esthonia and Livonia 

 (Loudon-Lisden, 1909). J. von Fischer (1872) reported it common at Petrograd, but it appears from 

 later writers that at best the birds are very rare in that region (von Brandt, 1880; „ 

 Biichner, 1887). There is no evidence of its having bred in the interior in Lithuania, 

 Poland or Little Russia, though Taczanowski (1888) has recorded a small flock in Poland in August, 

 and I think we may assume that the species breeds there sporadically as in the interior of Germany. 

 It certainly breeds along the northern shore of the Black Sea and about the Danube Delta, where 

 von Almasy (1898), Sintenis (1877) and Alison, all found it abundant. Reiser (1894) R] . _ 

 says it is very common all along the west shore of the Black Sea and RadakofT (1879) 

 had already recorded it so at Burgas, while Elwes and Buckley (1870) found it not uncommon at 

 Kustendje. Lintia (1909) records it for Rumania, but Reiser (1894) remarks that in Rumania 

 Bulgaria at least it is a very rare bird in the interior. On the Russian shore of the Bulgaria 

 Black Sea the species has been found very common (Seebohm, 1885), and has been recorded as breed- 

 ing at Odessa (Goebel, 1869), sporadically in Podolia (Zarudny, 1886) and in the Valley of the Pruth 

 (Radakoff, 1881). Radde (1854), as well as Brauner (1899), states that it is common in the Crimea 

 and Tauria; and Goebel (1870) makes similar remarks concerning its occurrence at the _ . 

 mouth of the Dnieper River. Brauner (1894) has recorded its breeding in Cherson, 

 while Valkh (1911) states that it nests commonly in the south part of Ekaterinoslav and E-von 

 Middendorff (1891) found it nesting in numbers about Birjutshi and Jenikale Lights in the Sea of 

 Azov. As to its status in the interior we are dependent wholly on the excellent observations of Sab- 

 anae'ff (Harvie-Brown, 1878). He tells us that the species probably breeds in Tula and Tambow, and 

 that in spring it is found and probably nests in the Urals up to 56° north latitude and even up to 

 Cheliabinsk, Shadrinsk and Ekaterinberg. However this may be, the birds certainly breed in the 

 steppes north of the Caspian (Nazarow, 1887) and abundantly in Astrakhan (See- Caspian 

 bohm, 1882; Cornelius, 1895; Moeschler, 1853; Becker, 1853). It furthermore breeds Se a 

 throughout the Caucasus, though of course rarely in the mountainous interior (Radde, 1884; See- 

 bohm, 1883). On Gotschai Lake it appears to be particularly common (Radde, 1884). Trans- 

 It is also quite plentiful in eastern Transcaucasia (Stanchinsky, 1914), and is an caucasia 

 abundant breeder in Armenia (Nesterov, 1911). Djerjugin (1900) also found it at Armenia 

 Trebizond. I find no evidence of its nesting on the south coast of the Black Sea west of Armenia. 

 Meinertzhagen (1920) records having seen a pair in south Palestine in June. 



In Africa the species has been recorded as nesting in the west in Morocco (Carstensen, 1852), and 

 is said to be partially resident in Algiers (Loche, 1867; Whitaker, 1905). It has been recorded as 

 resident in small numbers in Tunis also (Zedlitz, 1909), and it is said by Blanchard to Morocco 

 have nested there at Bizerta, Djebel and Eshkul (Whitaker, 1905). In Egypt various Algeria 

 travelers have met with the species during the breeding season, and von Heuglin Tunis 

 (1873) is of the opinion that it probably nests in Lower Egypt and the Fayum, where he found it 

 very common in May and June. Parrot (1903) has reported it from Lake Menzaleh Egypt 

 and the Cairo region in April, and Kaiser (Ornis, vol. 6, p. 540, 1890) states that it is resident on 

 Lake Kurum and on the ponds of Abusir, but I note that the most recent list of Egyptian birds says 

 nothing of any breeding records (Nicoll, 1919). 



In Persia the species breeds in most sections, though apparently it is not common there. Zarudny 

 (1911), the authority on this region, says it breeds in the northwest, in the Kuhistan- Persia 

 Kirman, in the Seistan and possibly the Zagross sections. In the desert regions of western Russian 



