MARBLED DUCK 5 



men known from Malta is that recorded by C. A. Wright (1864). So far as I know there is only one 

 record for Sardinia, and that is of three specimens taken there in 1839 (Picchi, 1904). The only 

 record for Corsica refers to a specimen found in the Ajaccio market by Parrot (1910). 



The flight of 1892 reached Czecho-Slovakia and Hungary in considerable numbers. On July 25 and 

 26, 1892, four specimens were taken in the former country, near Frauenburg (Riha, 1892), another 

 specimen was taken near Kladno in January, 1893 (fide Naumann, 1896-1905). A Czecho- 

 f emale was taken on Lake Velencze, Hungary, on August 1, 1893 (von Besserer, Ornith. Slovakia 

 Jahrb., 1894, p. 216) and others at the same place on September 15, 1894 (Lendl, 1895), September 5, 

 1895, and September 26, 1896. Very likely a few birds had become resident on Lake Velencze. Cher- 

 nel (fide Naumann, 1896-1905) saw fifteen to twenty specimens there in September, 1896. A speci- 

 men was also taken (July, 1893) near Gardony, central western Hungary (Rosonowsky, 1893). 



In the Balkans three specimens of the Marbled Duck were taken on May 28, 1889, at Ostrozac on 

 the Narenta (Reiser, 1890). Elwes and Buckley (1870) met with it in Albania, and both Lord Lilford 

 and Powys (1860) have recorded it from Butrinto and Phanari in western Greece. The Balkans 

 northernmost record for the species is for Lake Dmen, Russia, where a specimen is Russia 

 reputed to have been taken (Severtzoff ,,/i<fe Poliakoff , 1909). In southern Russia specimens have been 

 taken about Astracan and Lenkoran (Radde, 1884). Seebohm (1882, 1883) considers it a rare resi- 

 dent and breeder about Astracan and throughout the Caucasus. It seems to be a rare resident on 

 Cyprus (Meinertzhagen, in litt.). 



The Marbled Duck breeds in Palestine and may breed in Syria, Asia Minor and northern Arabia 

 (Juaf oasis) but our information on these regions is very inadequate. Tristram (1884) found them in 

 great numbers throughout the year in the swamps of the Huleh, Palestine; and the 

 British Museum has several specimens from the Euphrates Valley. According to a ^^stine 

 member of the British Expeditionary Force (T. R. L., 1918) a few were seen on the Transcaspia 

 lower Euphrates in February and March, and some breed there. Since then it has been 

 recorded as a common breeder along the Tigris and Euphrates River (Ticehurst, Buxton and Chees- 

 man, 1922). In Persia the species is quite common, wintering on the littoral of the Persian Gulf and 

 Arabian Sea, and breeding on the south coast of the Caspian, in the Parapamis, the Seistan region, 

 and farther east and south (Radde, 1886; Zarudny, 1911; Baker, 1919). Stantschinsky (1914) found 

 it common in Transcaucasia. In Transcaspia a few winter, but it is described by various writers as 

 the commonest nesting duck in the basin of the Amur Daria, and about Merv (Zarudny, 1889-90; 

 Radde and Walter, 1889; Stolzmann, 1893; Loudon, 1910; Molcanov, 1912). Specimens have fre- 

 quently been taken in Afghanistan, some being winter records, and one at least a summer occur- 

 rence (C. Swinhoe, 1882; Scully, 1887; Sharpe, 1889; O. B. St. John, 1889). Here it is an irregular 

 summer visitor and breeder, but only a few winter (Zarudny, 1911; Aitken, 1914; Ludlow, 1916; 

 Meinertzhagen, 1920). 



Many of the summer birds of Persia, Afghanistan and Baluchistan undoubtedly go south in winter 

 to northwestern India, for the species is extremely common in winter in Sind, and extends as far as 

 northern Guzerat and Cutch, straggling down the Ganges Valley, where a number of ... 

 specimens have been taken in the United Provinces, about Delhi and Lucknow; and it 

 has several times been found in the Calcutta Market (Hume and Marshall, 1879; Jesse, 1903; Baker, 

 1908). A friend of Baker's asserts that he has shot two specimens as far east as Gowhatty, Assam. 



Mention should be made of the fact that the British Museum has a specimen collected in the 

 Seychelles! 



GENERAL HABITS 



The systematic position of this duck has long been a puzzle to ornithologists, who, 

 at one time or another have placed it with the Mallard-like ducks, the Blue-winged 

 Teals, the Pintails, and the Gadwall. There is nothing in its anatomy or in its habits 



