COMMON SHELD-DUCK. 353 



bis time; also ' Stock- Aunet.' Many Sheld-Ducks come 

 from the north to visit this country for the winter, for this 

 species is rather intolerant of cold. 



The Sheld-Duck still breeds sjiaringly in the rabbit 

 burrows and sand-hills upon the coast of Suffolk, Norfolk, 

 Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland ; 

 also in suitable localities along the east coast of Scotland, 

 where large flocks are observed in winter along the sandy 

 estuaries. To Shetland it is a rare visitor at any season ; 

 but is more common in Orkney, where, Dr. Patrick Neill 

 says, "it has got the name of Sly Goose, from the arts 

 which the natives find it employs to decoy them from the 

 neighbourhood ol its nest : it frequently feigns lameness, 

 and waddles away with one wing trailing on the ground, 

 thus inducing a pursuit of itself, till, judging its 3'oung to 

 be safe from discovery, it suddenly takes flight, and leaves 

 the outwitted Orcadian gaping with surprise." It is numer- 

 ous in summer in the Hebrides, where it is known as the 

 ' Strand-Goose,' and also in some districts on the west side 

 of the mainland. The increase of population has, of course, 

 acted unfavourably to it in the north-west of England, but 

 it still breeds along the sandy coasts of Lancashire, Cheshire, 

 and many parts of Wales. In Cornwall, according to Eodd, 

 it is only a winter visitant ; but a few nest in Devonshire, 

 Somersetshire, and near Poole Harbour in Dorsetshire. 



In Ireland this handsome species appears to have been 

 driven by persecution, reclamation of waste land, and other 

 causes, from many of the breeding-haunts in the north, and 

 north-east mentioned by Thompson, especially those in the 

 neighbourhood of Belfast. Where unmolested, however, 

 it still nests in suitable localities, among which may be 

 mentioned the sand-hills of Bartragh, co. Mayo, owing to 

 strict preservation by the owner, Capt. Kirkwood ; the 

 Saltees, portions of the Wexford coast, Dungarvan and 

 Tramore Bays, co. Watcrford, as the Editor is informeJ by 

 Mr. K. J. Ussher. 



The Common Sheld-Duck is only a rare straggler to the 

 Faeroes ; l)ut it breeds along the coast of Norway up to about 



VOL. IV. z z 



