6o4 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII. 
mounds and canal banks ; it was nesting in May and June, the holes going 14 feet 
in and 7 feet below the level of the ground. Thornhill, who found a nest of eight 
eggs in low hills near Samarra says the nest was situated 20 feet in and four feet 
down, they were nesting in April and May. Logan Home juit several old birds 
out of nesting holes in the cliffs of the Samarra-Tekrit area and found a duckling 
in June. Harrison says of the Adhaim river that the birds were paired off in 
April and were breeding in May. In the above districts it is fairly common. 
Tomlinson has recorded it breeding on the Gagar river in April 1908 and found 
young out in June ; on re-visiting the locality in 1913 no trace could be found of 
any breeding there and he was told by the natives that none had bred since 1913 ; 
Cheesman however saw pairs which were evidently breeding in much the same 
locality, i.e., near Bunder-i-kir on May 24th, 1917. Though it occurs on the 
Euphrates at Ramadi and Feluja in winter, there is no evidence as yet that it 
breeds there ; Pitman failed to meet with it at the latter place after May 7th. 
One specimen : Amara, 13-1-18 (P. Z. C. and R. E. C.) 
1 will not swell the list of Mesopotamian birds by including the Egyptian Goose 
(A. cegyptiaca) which Weigold says he saw a pair of “ at a great distance ” at 
Urfa on April 1 1th ; one may be mistaken over birds seen at a great distance and 
further evidence is desirable before admitting this species to our fauna. 
202 Mallard. Anas platyrhyncha. 
Anas pMtyrhyncha, L. (=boschas auct). (Syst. Nat. Ed. x, p. 125, 1758 
— Sweden). 
203. Qadwall. Anas strepera. 
Anas strepera, L. {,Syst. Nat. Ed. x., p. 125, 1758 — Sweden). 
204. Pintail. Anas acuta. 
Anas acata, L. (Syst. Nat. Ed. x, p. 126, 1578 — Sweden). 
205. Wigeon. Anas penelope. 
Anas pe.nelope, L. (Syst. Nat. Ed. x, p. 126, 1578 — Sweden). 
206. Shoveler. Spatula clypeata L 
Spatula clypeata, L. (Syst. Nat. Ed. x, p. 124 — S. Sweden). 
Wild fowl are exceedingly abundant on the rivers, swamjjs and lakes of Meso- 
potamia ; the marshes round Kurna, Babylon and the Suweikiyeh marsh, to men- 
tion some of the best known, teem in winter with vast flocks of geese and all 
kinds of ducks, and both reed-girt and open pieces of water are indifferently 
used. But few arrive before mid-August or early September and the majority 
. come later than this ; most leave in March though in places plenty may yet be 
seen in April and even into May. On the Adhaim river huge flocks were seen 
going south during September early in the morning, but this movement ceased 
by the end of the month. 
The Mallard is somewhat unevenly distributed and, as in other places, this is 
probably due to suitability or otherwise of feeding ground, as it seems to be a 
more particular duck in this respect than some others ; thus while some found it 
to be the commonest duck, others reported that it was never very common, for 
instance in a bag of 100 duck at Nasariyeh only one JIallard figured, while at 
Ezra’s Tomb, Buxton considered it to be the commonest species; of course even 
in Mesopotamia the Mallard is well able to take care of itself, and this may 
partly account for its apparent scarcity, as it prefers places where a good look 
out can be kept, such as the river or the middle of large pieces of water. 
If it is doubtful if the Mallard breeds in Mesopotamia, at least there is no 
certain evidence. The late Captain Thornhill has recorded that he saw it in 
every month of the year and that it probably breeds ; I questioned him about 
it (and I know he was too good a shikari to have confused it with any other duck). 
