254 THE RED-CRESTED POCHARD. 
Hitherto this species has not occurred in China. Prjevalski 
did not observe it in Mongolia or Chinese Tibet, nor has any one 
recorded it from any part of Siberia. But our explorers met 
with it in Eastern Turkestan,* and Severtzoff tells us that in 
Western Turkestan also it is everywhere common and breeds. 
In winter it is found in Afghanistan and  Beluchistan, 
and in many parts of Persia, where also it breeds in the neigh- 
bourhood of Shiraz, and probably other suitable localities. 
About the Caspian itis common. It has been sent from the 
head of the Persian Gulf and from near Bagdad. But it does 
not seem to have been noticed in Asia Minor or Palestine, and 
it must be very rare in Egypt, if it really occurs there, for 
neither Heuglin nor Shelly ever met with it. In Algiers it is 
not uncommon, and many breed there, and stragglers are 
occasionally met with at Tangiers ; but, beyond this there is no 
record of its occurrence in Northern Africa. It 1s found 
throughout Southern Europe, breeding in Spain, Italy, Sicily and 
occasionally in the Dobrudscha and Southern Russia. North- 
wards it becomes rare, though it has occurred occasionally in 
Belgium, Southern Denmark and England (and once in Scot- 
land), but never apparently in Ireland, Sweden, Norway, 
Finland or Northern Russia. 
The normal range of this species is, therefore, very restricted ; 
and, according to our present information, seems to be little 
more than Algiers and the countries immediately north of the 
Mediterranean and Black Seas, the Caspian, Turkestan, (Eastern 
and Western) Persia, the countries between this and India, and 
a considerable portion of the latter. 
LARGE NUMBERS, compared to what occur in Europe, visit us 
during the cold season ; and, when it is borne in mind that they 
are fairly common over a belt of country stretching from 
Kandahar to Sadiya, some 2,000 miles in length and averaging 
certainly 400 in breadth, and that they do extend (though rarer 
there) hundreds of miles south of this, there can remain little 
question that the real head-quarters of this species are India 
in winter and Turkestan in summer. 
They arrive late; the earliest date on which I have seen them 
in the Doab is the 21st of October ; and it is quite the middle 
of November before the great bulk of them have fairly settled 
down in the plains of Upper India. They are even later further 
south, and, on the Eastern Narra, Doig says that they are rarely 
well in before the first week of December. 
* Thus Scully says :—“ This handsome duck was not observed in winter, but 
was very common near Yarkand during the summer. It isa fine diver, and has 
a peculiar manner of emerging from the water with a sharp spring; it carries 
its head weil bent back over its shoulders, and is not easily approached. The bird 
is only a seasonal visitant to Kashgharia, where it breeds ; the nest is said to be 
placed among rushes growing in marshes, and the eggs are reported to be of a 
green colour.” 
‘ 
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