144 ANATID.E. 



Colonel Hawker, in reference to their habits, says, " The 

 young Shelldrakes, directly after being hatched in the rabbit- 

 burrows, are taken by the parent birds to the sea, where they 

 may be seen in what the boatmen call troops, of from thirty 

 to forty ; but as the female seldom hatches more than four- 

 teen eggs, it is clear that each flock is formed by two or three 

 broods. On their being approached, the old ones fly away, 

 and leave the young to shift for themselves by diving. They 

 may be easily shot when they come up, but you can seldom 

 kill more than one or two at a time, as they always disperse 

 before you can get very near them. 



" These birds show but tame sport with a gun, and are good 

 for nothing when killed. But, in winter nights, they often 

 give you a fine shot on the mud, though they are so white 

 that you can seldom perceive them, even afloat, without a 

 good moon. Be prepared to fire directly you rise ; as they, 

 being very quick-sighted birds, will give you but little time 

 to present your gun. We had a great many Burrow Ducks 

 on our coast, Hampshire and Dorsetshire, during the last 

 hard winter. They were the wildest of birds till half starved 

 by the freezing of the shell-fish, and then they became the 

 tamest of all wild-fowd." 



" You may keep young Burrow Ducks for five or six 

 weeks, provided you give them crumbs of bread, and only 

 a little water three times a day. But if you let them get 

 into the water, or even drink too much before they are full 

 grown, and fit to be turned out on your pond, you are almost 

 sure to kill them. This appears quite a paradox with birds 

 that, in their wild state, are always in the water ; but such 

 is the case." 



This bird is found on most of the sandy parts of the coast 

 of Ireland, and in Scotland as far as the Shetland Isles, but 

 is more common in those of Orkney, where Dr. Patrick Neill 

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



