232 CAS ARC A FERRUGINEA 



seemed to me not to differ in any way from young of the Common Sheldrake. Seebohm says that 

 the brown of the upper parts is paler, and the white of the underparts is suffused with brown on the 

 breast and belly. I am often surprised at the amount of individual variation in the coloring of downy 

 young in ducks and think more and more that large series have to be considered to get correct ideas. 



Variations: Color in this bird ranges from rich dark chestnut to a washed-out buffy tint, and no 

 two birds are exactly alike, regardless of sex. In some specimens the feathers of the interscapular 

 region are tipped with a very pale buff, which gives the bird a more or less barred appearance. No 

 careful study of the moult has been made, but it is very likely that there is a more or less com- 

 plete double moult, the summer plumage being practically the same as that of winter. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Being essentially a resident species, the Ruddy Sheldrake inhabits practically the same areas in 



winter as in summer, and is only to a slight extent migratory. It is above all an eastern palsearctic 



_ , species, its habitat being Asia. Still it is not uncommon in parts of southeastern 



General J" , , 7?. , _ , 



Europe and northern Arrica; in western and northwestern Europe, however, it is to 



be regarded strictly as a straggler. As a matter of fact it is impossible to say how many recorded 

 instances of its occurrence there are simply cases of birds escaped from captivity. No doubt a 

 good many records would come under this category if all the facts were known. There can be very 

 little question, however, that a genuine flight, probably from southern Russia, took place in the 

 summer of 1892 when the birds were successively seen in Denmark, England, Ireland, Iceland, and 

 eventually in high latitudes on the coast of West Greenland! I shall revert to this phenomenon 

 below, in connection with the various countries. Suffice it to say that it was probably due to drought 

 in southern Europe; and that its occurrence in Greenland and Iceland is a unique event in ornitho- 

 r , logical history. Specimens were taken in West Greenland at Augpalartok, near 



Upernavik, latitude 73° north, and at Ritenbenk, latitude 70° north (Vanhoffen, Verh. 

 Ges. f. Erdk., Berlin, 1893, p. 460). Mention should perhaps be made here of the capture of a speci- 

 men of this species on November 14, 1916, at Barnegat Bay, New Jersey; the bird seemed to be a 

 North wild one, and it is said that three other specimens were taken on Currituck Sound, 



America North Carolina, in 1886. The reputed capturer claims to have seen others there at 



various times since then (Grinnell, Auk, vol. 36, p. 561, 1919). Not much weight is to be given to 

 ■ . . these unusual statements. In Iceland three specimens were taken on the southwest 



coast near Eyrarbakki, July 20, 1892, and at the end of the same month four more 

 were taken on the north coast at Akureyri (Hantzsch, 1905). 



In Denmark the species had previously been taken only once, at Bornholm (Kjaerbolling, 1850), 

 but in 1892 a flock was seen at Vordingborg (Winge, 1895). There is one old record of its occurrence 

 j-. . in Sweden, near Stockholm, May 22, 1854 (Nilsson, 1858), and another for Isbo, Fin- 



land, July, 1887 (Palmgren, 1913). Schaanning (1913) gives seven as the total number 

 of recorded instances for Norway. They are: Trondhjem, October, 1887; Jaederen, August 15, 1898; 

 Scandi- Kristiania, August 2, 1892; Solor, August 2, 1892; Stenkjaer, September 11, 1892; 



navia Skudesnes, October 12, 1892; and Fitjar, April 24, 1909. It is obvious from this 



enumeration that Norway too was touched by the flight of 1892. 



There had not been many records for the British Isles previous to 1892. Specimens had been taken 

 in Dorset, 1776; Suffolk, 1834, 1864; Orkney, 1831; Caithness; Wicklow, 1847; Kerry, 1869 (Dresser, 

 British 1871-81; Seebohm, 1885; etc.). The flight in 1892, however, was particularly noted in 



Isles t h e British Isles. Mr. Ogilvie (Zoologist, ser. 3, vol. 16, p. 392, 1892) gives an interest- 



ing and detailed account of the event. In Ireland flocks were seen or specimens taken in Donegal, 

 Dublin, Drogheda and Limerick, while in England the species occurred in Cumberland, Sutherland, 



