86 BRITISH BIRDS. 



being about 50 by 3 mm., the other much, smaller. \Miether 

 these twigs were swallowed accidentally or whether they aid 

 digestion, as do stones and grit in graminivorous birds, it is 

 bard to say. Claud B. Ticehurst, 



INLAND NESTING OF THE SHELD-DUCK IN 

 CHESHIRE. 



Although the Sheld-Duck [Tadorna cornuta) has been kno\\Ti 

 to nest at a distance from salt-water, and in some parts of 

 its range is said to do so regularly, it is usually spoken of as 

 entirely maritime in its breeding-habits. In Cheshire the bird 

 has greatly increased in numbers during the last few years, 

 and pairs now nest regularly at some distance from the coast. 

 For four years paii-s have nested on the sandy banks of Oak- 

 mere, a water in Delamere Forest, eight miles distant from the 

 Mersey Estuary, the nearest salt-water. In or about the year 

 1900 a pair first selected this site ; the eggs were dug out of 

 the rabbit-burrow and put under a hen, but only two young 

 birds were reared, and they were subsequently killed by foxes. 

 In the springs of 1907, 1908 and 1909, I saw Sheld-Ducks 

 on several occasions on Oakmere, but it was not until this 

 year that I learnt that birds had nested in each of these three 

 seasons. Each j^ear the eggs were either taken for sitting or 

 were robbed by collectors ; in no case were young brought off. 

 Early in April, 1910, one, and sometimes two, pair of birds 

 frequented the mere ; I frequently saw them during April, 

 May and early June, but I never felt sure that two ducks 

 were sitting. On June 18th I saw a duck fly in from the north, 

 as if she had come from the sea, and almost at once enter her 

 burrow. Five young were seen outside the hole on the 23rd , 

 and four were captured by the gamekeeper ; when I saw 

 them on the 25th they were feeding well and looked healthy, 

 but two died on the 26tli and a third on the 27th ; the fourth 

 was doing well when I last saw it — on July 16th. The game- 

 keeper saw a pair of old birds with seven young on the water 

 on June 27th, but within two or three days both young and 

 old had vanished ; he concluded that these were the brood 

 of the second pau% but it is possible that he did not see all 

 the young on the 23rd. I cannot say what became of the 

 birds ; it is possible that the parents started to walk them to 

 the sea, an almost impossible feat attempted by a pair which 

 nested on the banks of the Weaver, four miles inland, in 

 1907 ; but it is more likely that foxes, which abound in the 

 neighbourhood, destroyed all the young. T. A. Coward. 



