WHITE-HEADED DUCK, 161 



in tlie "Florentine Ornitliology/' it was once very 

 common in the marshes of Bientina, but is now^ no 

 longer, or very rarely caught there." 



Degland says that it occurs in Greece, but no 

 mention of it is made by Count Miihle or Dr. Lin- 

 clermayer, in their ornithological catalogues of that 

 country. It is, however, not uncommon on the borders 

 of the Black Sea. Dr. Carte, on the zoology of the 

 Crimea, says, — "Two or three were seen in the harbour 

 of Balaklava, in the month of February, 1855, fishing 

 for small fish, shrimps, etc., diving with great ease, 

 and remaining under water a considerable time. An 

 allied species is found in the salt-water lagoons of Australia 

 and Tasmania." Lord Lilford says it is common, and 

 he believes resident in the Ionian Islands, on Lake 

 Butrinto, and on the lagoons of Nicopolis. It is much. 

 more common on the opposite African coast. It occurs, 

 accordiiig to Captain Loche, in all the great lakes of 

 Algeria, and he mentions that of Halloula. Mr. Salvin 

 says he found it commonly in the lagoon of El Baheira, 

 and he saw it at Djendeli and Zana, in the Eastern 

 Atlas, ("Ibis," vol. i, p. 364.) Mr. Tristram found it 

 on the Lake of Bou Guizoun, in June, 1856, and at 

 Tuggurt, in ISTorthern Africa, in December of the same 

 year, ("Ibis," vol. ii, p. 82.) He also fell in with it 

 and obtained the nest and eggs at the Lake of 

 Halloula, his visits to which I have before had occasion 

 to refer to with pleasure. 



"We found two nests of the White-headed Duck, 

 f Erisrnatura mersa,J among the sedge, containing, the 

 one three, the other eight eggs. These are very large 

 for the size of the bird, almost perfectly elliptical in 

 shape, and a line longer and wider than those of the 



