225 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



breeding-grounds, never very far from the sea/ are 

 low-lying sandy coasts, dunes, links, flat sand-banks, 

 and small islands in sea lochs, and estuaries. I am of 

 opinion that this handsome Duck pairs for life, and in 

 many, if not all, cases returns to one particular spot to 

 breed. It is not a social or gregarious species in our 

 islands, although numbers of pairs may be met with 

 breeding along a small stretch of sandy coast. Each 

 pair, however, keeps to itself. The nest is made at the 

 extremity of a burrow, a rabbit-hole being frequently 

 selected, but sometimes a hole among masonry or under 

 rocks is chosen, whilst more rarely a spot is preferred 

 in a dense gorse covert. The bird, exceptionally I 

 consider, sometimes makes its own burrow, which 

 is described as being in a nearly circular direction. 

 The burrow is of various lengths, sometimes as much as 

 twelve or fifteen feet, sometimes not more than half that 

 distance. At the end, in a small chamber, the rude nest 

 of dry grass is formed (a rabbit's nest is not unfrequently 

 utilized), and as incubation advances this is warmly 

 lined with down from the parent's body. Few nests 

 are more difficult to find, the birds being remarkably 

 cautious in leaving or visiting it. The locality may 

 sometimes be indicated by the male flying round and 

 round above the burrow, or the secret of the nest 

 betrayed by the parents at morning and evening, when 

 the sitting bird is relieved by its mate. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs are from six to twelve in number, sometimes 

 as many as sixteen ; and in cases where they have been 

 removed as many as thirty have been taken in a season 

 from a single burrow. They are creamy-white, ver}- 



^ Instances of this species breeding on the heaths of Dersingham 

 and Sandringham, and on a farm at Sedgeford, thirty years ago, 

 are recorded in Stevenson's Birds of Norfolk. 



