to attach themselves to the females till the second year, when they

ot. t appear
remarks that the males do not apy : te ce ae
and I bave also observed this to be the case on the Northumbrian coast,

ave acquired the adult plumage ; : :
a . birds are ca upon such parts as present a barrier of sand-hills, S bis ae
of this species. In addition, however, to those that reside permanently on sel ; wie e ™ _ rs ’
considerable numbers during their periodical flights to and from the more nort Lert coun ries of Europe.
In the beginning of March I have sometimes seen hundreds together upon a favourite locality, where they
have continued for a few days, and then departed for higher latitudes, this being the time of their return
from their equatorial or winter migration. The rabbit-burrows, with which the sand-hills of ah coast are
so often perforated, are the places that the Sheldrake usually selects for nidification ; andin such of these
as have been deserted by the original inhabitants, the females form their nests of bent-grass and other dry
vegetable materials, Sincumes as far as ten or twelve feet from the entrance, lining them with fine soft
down plucked from their own breasts. They lay from twelve to sixteen eggs, of a pure white, or with a
very faint tinge of green, and of an oval form, being equally rounded at both ends. These are incubated
for thirty days before the exclusion of the young, this being the period common to most of the Anatide.
During this dime the male keeps an attentive watch in the immediate vicinity of his mate ; and when hunger
calls her from her charge, he instantly takes her place and covers the eggs till her return. As soon as the
young are hatched, they are conducted, or, as more frequently happens, carried in the bill by the parents to
the water's edge; and upon this their native element they immediately launch, seldom quitting it till fully
fledged and well able to fly. Bewick observes, that if the family in their progress from the nest to the sea
should happen to be interrupted by an intruder, the young ones seek the first shelter, and squat close down,
whilst the parents, directed by the instinctive feeling that so universally prevails throughout the feathered
race at this interesting period, adopt the same kind of stratagems as the Partridge, wild Duck, &c., feigning
lameness and inability of flight, in order to attract attention and divert the pursuit to themselves. As the
Sheldrake is much prized as an ornamental appendage to large pieces of water for its handsome form and
varied plumage, the inhabitants of the coast are in the practice of watching the old birds to their nests
during the early part of the breeding-season, and digging up the eggs. These are placed under a hen or
tame Duck; but great care and attention is requisite in rearing the young, and it is seldom that more than
three or four survive from a hatching of a dozen eggs. They soon become tolerably tame and answer to the
call of the person who feeds them; when fully fledged, however, being very active birds, they are apt to
stray away, and, if left with their pinions unmutilated, generally in time fly entirely off, though I have known
them return, in two or three instances, after an absence of many months ... Upon the approach of spring,
the fleshy knob at the base of the upper mandible, which during the autumn and winter is scarcely per-
ceptible, begins to swell and acquire a beautiful erimson hue, and at its full development is nearly as large
asamarble. At this season, also, the males pay particular court to the females, erecting themselves and
uttering a shrill whistling note, repeated with great quickness, and attended with a frequent movement of
the head ; they are also very jealous and irascible at the approach of any other bird to their mates. The
food of the Sheldrake, in its wild state, consists of marine vegetables, molluscous shell-fish, insects, eis

’

but when domesticated thrives well upon grain, and indeed upon the usual fare of poultry.’

‘On examination of the gizzards of nine birds killed in Belfast B

ay, Strangford Lough, and Dundrum Bay,
in winter weather of all kinds, and in the months of March,

April, and May,” says Thompson, “ I found
e shells, with some sand or gravel. A few of these, from the
» were entirely filled with Padudina muriatica, a most abundant species. The
tenth individual, shot in Belfast Bay, in February 1849, during mild weather,
with minute 1

them all to contain a number of minute uniyaly

two first-mentioned localities

had its stomach wholly filled
nollusca, Montacuta purpurea, \n profusion, Skenea depressa, and a few Paludina muriatica. Its
very sinall Shenee, it alone containing not less than 9000
the stomach produced still more, so that
to be in the bird at the same time.

crop was full of the two former species, chiefly of
if tl ‘se shellfish - 1 ¢ . ° °

of these shell-fish - 20,000 of these minute mollusea were estimated
The Skenea is about the

= size of clover-seed, or one-eighteenth of an
inch in diameter: the Montacuta, when large,

: is one-twelfth of an inch broad. The bird was very fat, as
might be expected from such nutritious diet, the same on which the Grey Mullet (Mugil chelo) attains a
great size in this bay.”
Prince Frederick. of Holstein, tells me that in his country the Sheldrakes
with which they
badger, as that animal will eat their

habitually lay their eggs in
live in harmony—but will not go into the holes of the
eges; and hence, |

the earth-burrows of the foxes,

suppose, has arisen the specific term Viudpanser,
sometimes given to this bird.

and a group of young, of the size of life.

and the trivial name of Fox-Duck or Fox-Goose

The Plate represents a male