THE GADWALL. 
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Chaulelasmus streperus, Linné. 
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Vernacular Names.— Mila, (Hindee), Beykhur, VV. W. Provinces; Peeing hans, 
(Bengali) ; Mail, Veal ; Burd, Séxdh ; Syah-dum, Cadul ; ] 
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7<—) OW far south exactly the Gadwall may wander 
SMA) in India I have been unable to ascertain; but I 
have no knowledge of its occurrence in Ceylon, 
or the extreme south of the Peninsula, anywhere 
south of Mysore. In this province it occurs, 
though not in great numbers, and everywhere 
} else in India, north of about the 12° N. Lat., in 
gradually increasing abundance as one proceeds northwards. 
Eastwards it occurs throughout the Assam Valley to Dibrugarh, 
and Damant met with it at the Logtag Lake in Manipur ; but 
though common about Calcutta, I have no report of it from the 
Sunderbans, Tipperah, and Chittagong, though it must needs 
occur in these if Blyth is correct in saying that it is found in 
Arakan. In Tenasserim we have not met with it, nor has it been 
recorded from Pegu, though I should expect it to occur in the 
northern portions of that province. In the Himalayas it is 
common during the coldseason from Kashmir (whence I have 
several specimens, though Adams does not include it in his 
list) to Nepal, up to elevations of about five or six thousand feet. 
Outside our limits the range of this species may be des- 
cribed ascovering the entire temperate zone of the northern 
hemisphere. But it is rare in many portions of this vast tract, 
as in China, Mongolia, Japan, and the British isles. Except in 
Iceland it does not usually closely approach the Arctic Circle, 
while both in India and in the West Indies (as in Cuba and 
Jamaica, &c.,) it straggles well inside the tropics. Still for all 
practical purposes the species may be defined as essentially one 
pertaining to the northern temperate zone. 
“ AS WELCOME,” said the late Col. Tickell, “as on the moun- 
tains the feet of him who bringeth glad tidings, are the first 
flights of the Water Fowl, which announce to the nearly exhausted 
European, the approach of the delicious ‘cold season’ of India. 
Riding slowly across the open meadows or the treeless uplands 
