COMMON SHELD-DUCK. 2$ 



twelve ; the large numbers occasionally reported are doubtless 

 produced by two ducks. The nests are often in colonies. On 

 Brean Down and in some Welsh localities the bird nests on 

 high ground — on Put^n Island on the cliff loo feet or more 

 above the sea — but as a rule sandhills and hnks are favoured. 

 Inland nesting, especially since the marked increase of the 

 species, is not uncommon ; the statement that those that nest 

 at a distance from the coast have escaped from ornamental 

 waters has no foundation. The young bird figured (Plate 8) 

 was hatched in a burrow at the edge of a Cheshire mere nine 

 miles from salt water ; for many years a brood has been 

 hatched at this spot. Within a day or two of leaving the egg 

 the ducklings are taken to the sea by their parents, and an 

 annual attempt is made to conduct these inexperienced pedes- 

 trians from their fresh-water home. Naumann and others 

 affirm that the ducklings are conveyed in the beak or on the 

 back of the old birds, and though such aid may have to be 

 given to birds hatched on high ground, walking is the usual 

 method. The little procession is watched for and intercepted 

 by fishermen, who can sell the young into captivity. On one 

 occasion I met the ducklings with their parents just after they 

 had left the burrow, and the inexperienced infants came cheep- 

 ing to meet me, heedless of the agonised cries and extravagant 

 behaviour of their parents, and allowed me to take them in my 

 hand. Later they learn wisdom, and on the shore run with 

 wonderful speed ; on the water they dive with skill, and I have 

 seen a brood tire out an energetic retriever and never be in 

 danger. 



Both parents attend the brood, and either there is some 

 nursery-school arrangement or frequent adoption of orphans, 

 for it is not unusual to see a single pair escorting two or more 

 combined families ; I have seen twenty-one, by no means all 

 of one age, and heard of over forty and even sixty-two. In 

 each case only a pair of old birds tended the young, though 



