142 THE SHOVELLER. 
common in winter in suitable places in Afghanistan and Belu- 
chistan, in Persia, in the Caspian provinces at any rate, in Asia 
Minor, Palestine, and the entire breadth of Northern Africa, 
extending southwards to Abyssinia, whereof it is said to be a 
permanent resident. It has occurred in every country in Europe, 
and is widely distributed throughout Northern and Central 
America, possibly, just straggling into the North-West Pro- 
vinces of South America. 
In no part of the world does it, broadly speaking, range 
much north of the 6oth parallel of North Latitude, nor much 
south of the roth. Specimens “ave, indeed, been obtained (at 
the great Bear Lake, and the Mackenzie River,) just within the 
Arctic circle in North America, at Uleaborg (65° North Latitude) 
in Europe, and Gould says, Bogota (5° North Latitude) in 
South America, and the same authority asserts that a strag- 
gler has even occurred in Australia, but the normal range 
may be fairly stated as lying within the roth and 6oth parallels 
of the Northern Hemisphere. 
EXCEPT perhaps in Kashmir where Adams asserts that it is 
common throughout the year* it is elsewhere with us, whether 
in hillst or plains, only a winter visitant. 
With us too it is essentially afresh water bird, and I have 
no record of its having ever been observed on the sea coast 
in India, though in Europe it is not unfrequently seen there. 
In the plains I have no record of its appearance before 
the 22nd of October, and, as a rule, it is not until the 
middle of November that the great bulk of the birds, (and 
though apparently thinly{ distributed immense numbers wo visit 
India) arrive. By the end of April all have, as a rule, left 
the plains country, though in exceptionally cool seasons a few 
may linger in the Peshawar Valley until nearly the middle of 
May, and some certainly remain in Kashmir until quite the 
end of that month. 
garia, about the neighbourhood of Maralbashi, and are said to collect, for a 
short time, near Yarkand, when the cold sets in, previous to their migration south- 
wards.” | 
* This, however, needs confirmation, No one has, as yet, obtained the eggs 
there. 
+ Except in Kashmir, where a good number pass the entire winter, it is in 
most places in the Himalayas, more of a bird of passage than a winter resident. 
Thus Scully says :— 
‘*The Shoveller is a winter visitor to the Nepal Valley, being most common 
there on its migrations to and from the plains. but especially in October and 
November. A few birds, however, probably remain in the valley throughout the 
cold season.” 
This, too, is much what Mr. A. Graham Young says in regard to Kullu. 
+ Mr. J. Davidson writes :— 
“¢ In Sholapur, Deccan, in Tumkur, Mysore, and in the Panch Mahals, Gujarat, 
this Duck was widely distributed, withont being found in any great numbers in 
any place. It is an easy Duck to shoot as it is almost invariably found close to 
the shore feeding behind reeds or other cover. ” 
