A HISTORY OF SUSSEX eastern Arctic, whilst the more beautiful light- breasted birds hail from the north-western coasts of the Atlantic. 169. Canada Goose. Bernicla canadensis, Pallas. There is little doubt that considerable flocks of this splendid goose visited England and Scotland during the winters of 1868-9, although Mr. Howard Saunders is either unaware of or does not accept this evidence in his Manual of British Birds. Certainly many stayed in Scotland and afterwards bred on the waters of Loch Leven and have since spread throughout the kingdom. Nowadays many owners of lakes in Sussex keep these fine birds, and as they nest freely their pro- geny wander and are shot. A specimen in my collection was shot at Pagham in 1885 and given to me by the late Mr. Henry Seebohm. The Canada goose will, I hope, be considered a bona fide British bird in the near future. 170. Whooper Swan. Cygnus tnusictis, Bech- stein. A regular visitor in flocks during hard winters. I found whoopers during the breed- ing season in Iceland to be just as shy as during the winter months on our coasts. Whoopers have stayed the whole winter at Knepp Castle lake, where they are always protected. 171. Bewick's Swan. Cygnus hewicki, Yar- rell. A somewhat rare winter visitor, its appear- ance being due to severe weather in the north. 172. Mute Swan. Cygnus lor (J. F. Gmelin). As the old birds of this species drive off their young in the spring time from the sheets of water where they intend to nest the mute swan becomes generally distributed and is now ranked as a wild bird. As many as fifty swans, nearly all strangers, have been counted of late years at Knepp, but not more than three or four pairs stay to breed. Another favourite swan resort is Warnham Pond. 173. Sheld-duck. Tadorna cornuta (S. G. Gmelin). This handsome duck does not now breed on the Sussex coast ; it is only a somewhat scarce winter visitor coming to us in small parties. These are generally immatures. 174. Ruddy Sheld-duck. Tadorna casarca (Linn.) Of late years pinioned birds of this species have bred in Sussex, so that recent examples of its capture in a wild state do not neces- sarily mean genuinely wild birds. The Sussex specimen now in the Booth Museum and mentioned by Borrer as having been shot at Harting September 3, 1890, may or may not have been a wanderer from the south. 175. Mallard. Anas hoscas, Linn. Abundant in winter and resident in fair numbers. 176. Gadwall. Anas strepera, Linn. A rare winter visitor; there is no record of its having nested within the county. The gadwall as well as the wigeon is an increasing species on the inland waters during winter, and we may yet hope at no distant date to see this species together with the wigeon, the pintail, the shoveler and the tufted duck all nesting and resident on our inland lakes and ponds, as they are now quite established in parts of England and Scotland. 177. Shoveler. Spatula clypeata (Linn.) A regular winter visitor, increasing in num- bers every year. At present it is not known to have nested in the county. 178. Pintail. Dafila acuta (Linn.) A regular winter visitor to the coast in October and remaining through the winter. The pintail is a bird that only the professional wildfowler sees much of. The birds remain far out to sea during the hours of daylight and only come at night to feed on the mud- flats. My experience of the species is that it is by far the shyest of the ducks, whether diving or surface feeding. Even in the breed- ing season in Iceland I have had no little difficulty in shooting a couple of drakes. 179. Teal. Nettion crecca (Linn.) The teal is resident and breeds in small numbers throughout the county. In the winter large numbers come in as early as September and stay all the winter, frequently remaining as late as April. 180. Garganey. Qucrquedula circia (Linn.) A rare summer visitor which has not been known to breed in the county. In nearly every work on British birds this species is referred to amongst the ducks which are in- creasing in our islands. This is certainly not my experience, for in Norfolk, where it for- merly used to nest in some numbers, it now barely holds its own ; so far as I could gather from thoroughly reliable sources there were only about thirteen nests discovered in the whole of that county in the season of 1900. Of late years however it has nested in Hamp- shire, and it may form a new home there. 288
