COMMON SHELD DUCK. 159 
BEWICK’S SWAN. 
CYGNUS BEWICKI, Yarrell. 
Bewick’s Swan is apparently a very rare visitor to the 
Cheshire coast, and its capture has only been recorded 
on one occasion. Brockholes states that he examined 
a bird of this species which was shot by Mr. Lawton on 
December 14th, 1871, in the estuary of the Dee.! 
The Mute Swan, Cygnus olor (J. F. Gmelin), exists 
in a semi-domesticated condition on most of the meres 
and ornamental waters in Cheshire, and birds may 
frequently be seen flying at a slight altitude across 
country from mere to mere. The beat of their immense 
wings, audible at a considerable distance, attracts the 
attention of passers-by, who often report the birds as 
‘Wild Swans. Mute Swans may be sometimes seen 
feeding on the sandbanks and ooze of the Dee Estuary, 
but there is no reason whatever to suppose that any 
of those, shot from time to time on the Dee or else- 
where, are really wild birds. 
COMMON SHELD DUCK. 
TADORNA CORNUTA (S. G. Gmelin). 
From the London and North-Western Railway, which 
skirts the Welsh shore of the Dee Estuary, numbers of 
Sheld Duck may always be seen at low water scattered 
over the sandbanks and mud-flats. Most of these birds 
breed in the sandhills near the Point of Air in Flint- 
shire, but a few pairs still nest on the Cheshire coast. 
On Hilbre Island, where the Shield Duck nests every 
1 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 14. 
