142 AN A TIDE. 



seen inlaml, unless in a scnii-doniestic state and pinioned; but 

 some arc constantly found on the sea coast, and that during 

 the whole year, preferring flat shores, sandy bars, and links, 

 where it breeds in rabbit burrows, or other holes in the soft 

 soil, and hence has obtained the name of Burrow Duck, and 

 Bar Gander, which is probably only a corru])tion of Burrow 

 Gander. In Scotland it is called Skeeling Goose, according 

 to Sibbald, and other writers since his time. Many Shield- 

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

 returning again in the spring. 



The authors of the Catalogue of the Norfolk and Suffolk 

 Birds mention that it breeds in the rabbit burrows formed 

 in the sand-hills upon the coast of Norfolk. Its nest is dis- 

 covered by the print of its feet on the sand, and therefore 

 most easily found in calm weather ; for in windy weather the 

 driving sand soon obliterates the impression. The old bird 

 is sometimes taken by a snare set at the mouth of the burrow. 

 The eggs arc often hatched under domestic hens, and the 

 birds thus obtained kept as an ornament on ponds. 



Mr. Selby mentions that these birds are also regular in- 

 habitants of the sandy parts of the Northumbrian coast, and 

 during the breeding-season the holes in the earth frequented 

 by them are lined with bents of grass and other dry vegetable 

 materials, forming a nest sometimes as far as ten or twelve 

 feet from the entrance, and lining it with fine soft down, 

 plucked from their own breasts. They lay from ten to 

 twelve eggs, and sometimes more ; these are rather large, of 

 a smooth shining white, about two inches nine lines in length, 

 and. one inch eleven lines in breadth. Incubation is said to 

 last thirty days, during which time the male watches near at 

 hand, taking his turn upon the eggs morning and evening, 

 wliile his mate goes off to pick up her hasty meal. When 

 the young are hatched they follow the parents, and in some 

 situations are even carried by them in their bills to the water, 

 where they soon learn to feed and take care of themselves. 



