birds, some of them in size exceeding any that had before been known. His collection has since been dispersed, most
of the specimens finding their way into various public museums in this country.
A literature by no means inconsiderable has grown up reSpecting the Gare-fowl. Neglecting works of general bearing, few of which are without many inaccuracies, the following treatises may be especially mentioned:—J. J. S. Steenstrup, “lit Bidrag til Geir- fugleus Naturhistoric og saerligt til Kundskaben om dens tidligere L'dbredningskreds," Naturk. Fore». Viclcnsk. illrddclclscr [Copen- hagen], 1855, p. 33; E. Charlton, “On the Great Auk,” Trans. Tyzwsidc Niel. Field Club, iv. p. 111; “ Abstract of Mr J. “'olley’s Researches in Iceland respecting the Gare-fowl,” Ibis, 1861, p. 374 ; W. Preyer. “ Ueber Plautzw impcnm's," Journ. fiir 0m, 1862, pp. 110, 337 ; K. E. von Baer, “ Ucber das Ausstcrben der 'l‘hierarten in physiologischer und nicht physiologiseher llinsicht," Bull. dc l’Actu‘l. Imp. dc St Pétcrsb., vi. p. 513; R. Owen, “Description of the Skeleton of the Great Auk," Trans. Zool. 800., v. p. 317 ; “ The Gare-fowl and its Historians,”.7\'a(. Hist. Rea, v. p. 467; J. H. Gurney, jun., “On the Great Auk,” Zoologist, 2d ser. pp, 1442, 1639; H. lteeks, “ Great Auk in Newfoundland,” &c., op. cit., p. 1854; 1'. Patio, “Sur l’Alea impennis," Bull. Soc. Orn. Suissc, ii. pp. 1, 80, 147; “ On existing Remains of the Gare-fowl,” Ibis, 1370, p. 256; J. Milne, “Relics of the Great Auk," Field, 27 March, 3 and 10 April 1875. Lastly, reference cannot be omitted to the happy exercise of poetic fancy with which the late Prof. Kingsley was enabled to introduce the chief facts of the Garefowl's extinction (derived from one of the above-named papers) into his charming ll'alcr Babies.
GARESSIO, Garesso, or Garezzo, in Latin G'arcxlmn, a town of Italy about 18 miles SE. of Moudovi, in the valley of the Tararo. The Roman remains which are dis- covered from time to time bear witness to its high antiquity ; during the Middle Ages it was the seat of a marquisate, which in 1509 was sold to the Spiuola family, and its double walls gave it some importance as a defensible posi- tion. Besides a castle, it possesses three old monastic buildings, one of which, the Carthusian convent of Casotto, is an edifice of much magnificence. Population in 1870 nearly 7000.
GAB-FISH is the name given to a genus of fishes (Belem) found in nearly all the temperate and trepical seas, and readily reCognize-d by their long, slender, com- pressed and silvery body, and by their jaws being pro- duced into a long, pointed, bony, and sharply-toothed beak. About fifty species are known from different parts of the globe, some attaining to a length of 4 or 5 feet. One species is common on the British coasts, and is well known by the names of “ long—nose,” “ green-bone,” &e. The last name is given to those fishes on account of the peculiar green colour of their bones, which deters many people from eating them, although their flesh is well flavoured and perfectly wholesome. The Skipper (.S'comberesox) and Half- beak (IIemir/mmp/ms), in which the lower jaw only is pralonged, are fishes nearly akin to the gar-pikes. See Ichthyology.
GARGANEY[1] (North-Italian, Gargrmcllo), or Summer-Teal, the Anas querquedula and .l. cireiw of Linnmus (who made, as did Willughby and Bay, two species out of one), and the type of Stephens’s genus Queryuedulu. This bird is one of the smallest of the Anatidcc, and has gained its common English name from being almost exclusively a snmmcr-visitant to this country, where nowadays it only regularly resorts to breed in some of the East-Norfolk waters called Broads, though possibly at one time found at the same season throughout the great Fen-district. About the same size as the common Teal (.l. crecca), the male is readily distinguished therefrom by its peculiarly-colourel he 1d, the sides of which are nutmeg-brown, closely fFBCle'd with short whitish streaks, while a conspicuous white curved line descends backwards from the eyes. The upper wing- coverts are bluish-grey, the scapulars black with a white shaft-stripe, and the wing-spot (speculum) greyish—grcen bordered above and below by white. The female closely resembles the hen Teal, but possesses nearly the same wing- spot as her mate. In Ireland or Scotland the iarganey is very rare, and though it is recorded from Iceland, more satisfactory evidence of its occurrence there is needed. It has not a high northern range, and its appearance in Norway and Sweden is casual. Though it breeds in many parts of Europe, in none can it be said to be common ; but it ranges far to the eastward in Asia—even to Formosa, according to Swinhoe—and yearly visits India in winter. ThOse that breed in Norfolk arrive somewhat late in spring and make their nests in the vast reed—beds which border the Broads—a situation rarely or never chosen by the Teal. The labyrinth or bony enlargement of the trachea in the male Garganey differs in form from that described in any other Drake, being more oval and placed nearly in the median line of tho windpipe, instead of on one side, as is usually the case.
GARHWAL, a district of British India, in the Kinnaon division, under the jurisdiction of thc licutenant-govcrnor of the North-“'cstern Provinces, situated between 29° 16’ 15" and 31° 5' 30" N. lat., and 78° 18' 45" and 80" 8' 1‘). long, and bounded on the N. by Chinese Tibet, on the 15. by Kumaon district, on the S. by Bijnor district, and on the 11'. by Independent Garhwal or Tehri. (tarhwal dis- trict consists almost entirely of rugged mountain ranges running in all directions, and separated by narrow valleys, which may almost be described as gorges or ravines. The only level portion of the district consists of a narrow strip of waterless forest, between the southern slopes of the hills and the fertile plains of Bohilkhand. The highest moun- tains are in the north of the district, the principal peaks being Nanda Devi (25,661 feet), Kaniet (25,413), lreoul (23,382), Dunagiri (23,181), Badrinath (22,901), and Kedarnath (22,853). The Alaknanda, one of the main sources of the Ganges, receives with its aflluents the whole drainage of the district. The river is regarded as of peculiar sanctity, and is annually resorted to by thousands of devout Hindus. At Deoprayag the Alaknauda joins the Bhagirathi, and thenceforward the united streams bear the name of the Ganges. Navigation is impracticable in all the rivers, owing to the velocity of their currents, and the existence of shoals and rapids. Cultivation is princi- pally confiued to the immediate vicinity of the rivers, which are employed for purposes of irrigation ; but out of a total estimated area of 5500 square miles in 1872, only 200 were returned as under cultivation. Agriculture, however, is carried on with great skill and industry, by tcrracing out the hill sides. Wheat, rice, and mamlmi are the staple crops, the surplus produce being exported to Tibet. Tea planting is also carried on under European supervision.
The census of 1872 disclosed a population in the Garbo/d (lis- triet of 310.288 (115,745 males and 154,537 fetnalcs), distributed among 3944 villages and 57,293 houses. The llindus numbered 348,398, or no less than 993 per cent. of the population, the. Mahometans 1799, and (‘hristians 85. The two great llindu temples of Badrinath and Kedarnath, which lie hidden among the reeesses of the snowy range, attract large numbers of pilgrims. who considerably add to the prosperity of the district. o place in Gal-hwal contains as many as 5000 inhabitants. Srinagar i, the largest town, but the administrative headquarters is at l‘auni. Trade is principally carried on with Tibet, by way of the Nana and Niti passes, sheep and goats being used as beasts of burden. That-11in exports are grain, gur, cloth, and tobacco; the imports salt, bmax, wool, gold, and precious stones. Good hill roads, from 10 to 12 feet in width, intersect the district in every direction, the total length being about 1000 miles. The land revenue in 1875 amounted to £9555. Only a small force of regular police is stationed at la-a-hpm-ters, and there is little crime of any kind.
- ↑ The word was introduced by \Villngbby from Gcsncr (01-21.. lib. iii. p. 127), but, though generally adopted by authors, seems “0ch to have become other than a book-name in English, the bird being in variably known in the parts of this island where it is indigenous as “ Summer-Teal."
