COMMON SHELD-DUCK. 433 



limited numbers, and confined to the Humber and Tees 

 estuaries. A few years ago it was subject to much persecution 

 at Spurn, and also suffered through being sometimes un- 

 intentionally caught in traps set in the rabbit burrows, the 

 result being that it was almost banished as a nester from the 

 district, but, owing to increased protection, it has now become 

 re-established ; it also breeds in the higher reaches of the 

 Humber, and is said to have nested near the junction of the 

 Trent and Ouse in 1900. 



Formerly it used to make use of burrows on the sand-hills 

 between Redcar and the Teesmouth, on what is now the 

 Cleveland Golf Club course, and one or two pairs occasionally 

 breed in the reclamation walls by the side of the estuary, 

 where they find a secure home amongst the slag with which 

 the walls are constructed, the nest being most difficult to 

 discover ; one was located in an iron water pipe fixed in a 

 slag wall, and I knew of one in the year 1883 with fifteen eggs, 

 eleven of which were successfully hatched. 



In addition to the Tees estuary, a pair sometimes resort 

 to the sandhills between Redcar and Marske, the latest instance 

 of which I am aware being in 1902 ; the old Duck brought 

 her young brood down to the sea when they were a few days 

 old, and five of them were captured on the rocks near Redcar. 

 A pair has been observed in the breeding season on the sea- 

 banks at Cattersty, near Skinningrove, where there is every 

 reason to believe a nest was established. 



A considerable accession to the numbers of the resident 

 birds takes place in autumn, being composed of immigrants 

 from more northern latitudes, many of which remain in 

 the Tees estuary throughout the winter ; at this period the 

 bird occurs sparingly at most of the Yorkshire coast stations, 

 and also in localities remote from the seaboard, being found 

 on the rivers of the West Riding and the sheets of water on 

 the high moorlands ; it has also been noted in Wensleydale, 

 Teesdale, and Ryedale ; not infrequently near Sutton-on- 

 Derwent and East Cottingwith, Beverley, and other portions 

 of the East and North Ridings. 



In early spring a migration northward is observed, large 



