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188 BLRD GALLERY. 
No. 139. COMMON SHELD-DUCK. (Tadorna cornuta.) 
The ‘ Burrow-Duck,” as it is sometimes called, is not uncommon on 
suitable parts of the coasts of Great Britain and Treland. Low sand- 
hills, sand-bars, and mud-flats are its favourite haunts, where small 
mollusea, erustacea, marine insects, and other kinds of food are 
plentiful. The plumage of the sexes is very similar, but the colours of 
the female are less bright and well defined than those of the male. The 
nest (made of bents, with a thick lining of down from the breast of the 
female) is generally placed inside a rabbit-burrow some feet from the 
entrance. In the present instance it was situated at the unusual depth 
of 15 feet and 7 feet below the surface {see Diagram]. From seven 
to twelve cream-coloured eggs are laid in May. The male takes no 
part in the incubation, which lasts for twenty-eight or thirty days, but 
remains in the vicinity of the nest, often in company with other drakes 
of his kind. 
Cromarty, June. 
Presented by G. A. St. Quintin & W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Esqrs. 
No. 140. GADWALL. (Chaulelasmus streperus.) 
This Duck is a winter visitor to the British Islands, though in no 
great numbers, but now breeds regularly in a few localities in Norfolk, 
where it was originally introduced. It frequents freshwater lakes which 
afford plenty of cover, and, owing to its retiring habits, is often supposed 
to be more uncommon than is really the case. It feeds by night, 
chiefly on grain, seeds, and other vegetable matter. The nest (made of 
grass and lined with down) is placed at a short distance from the 
water, under a bush or tuft of long grass. From eight to twelve 
whitish-buff eggs are laid from towards the end of May onwards. 
Norfolk, July. 
Presented by Lord Walsingham. 
No. 141. TEAL. (Nettion crecca.) 
The smallest of our British Ducks, this species is more abundant 
during the winter months than in summer, but it breeds in almost every 
county of Great Britain and Ireland. It frequents fresh water, and 
seeds on the seeds of aquatic plants, grain, worms, slugs, and insects, 
and the flesh is much esteemed as food. The nest, composed of dry 
grass and leaves, is lined with blackish down and placed in tufts of coarse 
