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but I have been told on reliable authority that they sometimes

carry them down singly in their bills while on other occasions

they lead them in a brood to the water. The situation of the

nest would probably determine the mode of transport, the young

which were hatched on rocks and slopes above the sea being

probably carried down in the parents’ bill, while those which

first saw daylight at the entrance of a rabbit-hole on the shore,

could easily follow their parents over the sand and mud-flats into

the water.


When these birds wish to change their feeding grounds

and to pass over a few miles of intervening laud, they mount

high into the air for the sake of security. When, however, they

only wish to pass farther along the coast they do not trouble to

rise many feet above the water. I have seen parties flying over

a sea-side town in a long diagonal line. They seem to be regular

in their habits, and pass daily over the same spot, but their hours

are naturally less regulated by the sun than by the state of the

tide.


I have heard of many other interesting habits of this species,

such as a curious trick they are said to have of paddling quickly

with their feet on the mud to attract the worms to the surface.

My object, however, in this article has been to record as far as

possible only my own observations, and so I will refrain from

giving second-hand information. The above notes are of

necessity very imperfect, but are, I believe, as far as they go,

accurate, as they have been gleaned from Nature herself, with

the aid of nothing more formidable than a good field glass.



BREEDING OF SHELD-DUCKS IN CONFINEMENT.


By Walter G. Prrcival.


In 1895, my father succeeded, after many failures, in

rearing a few Sheld-drakes from eggs hatched under hens. Of

these birds only two (a pair) reached maturity. They were

allowed perfect liberty, but were pinioned. To induce them to

breed, holes were cut in the banks near the water; hollow roots

of trees laid about, and shelters of faggots piled up in quiet

spots, but all of no avail. The first season they made no nest at

all but wandered about, sometimes dropping eggs in the hen¬

houses, sometimes in the fields and orchards.


The following spring they wandered about in the same



