148 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
bubbles when they dive, and always striking at them when they 
rise wearied to the surface. Their flesh is valued as food, and 
their skins are made into warm and comfortable under 
garments. 
The Long-tailed Duck and the Sheldrake or Burrow Duck, 
(Anas glacialis ; tadorna), likewise inhabit the northern shores 
of Europe, Asia, and America. The 
former often remains the whole year 
in the high north, bidding defiance 
to the icy winter of the Arctic circle, 
and enjoying during the summer the 
light of an uninterrupted day. Often, 
however, it migrates to the south, 
ioe and wanders from Greenland and 
Hudson’s Bay as far as New York, 
and from Spitzbergen and Iceland to Heligoland and the 
Schleswig Islands. The duck likewise lines her nest with her 
downs. During the winter, the sheldrake is often seen in 
the west of England and in Ireland, where it is caught in nets. 
On Sylt, on the Danish coast, it is half domesticated, living in 
artificial burrows, and breeding even in the villages, on walls, 
and in earth holes. In a pleasant valley among the downs, 
which, although without trees, refreshed the eye with a verdant 
carpet variegated with flowers, Naumann, the celebrated Ger- 
man ornithologist, saw thousands of sheldrakes scattered in 
couples over the meads, so tame that they could be approached 
within twenty paces, when they flew up, but soon again alighted 
on the sward. He admired the construction of the artificial 
nests, often thirteen in one cavity, with a common entrance, and 
communicating by horizontal tunnels. Over every nest is a 
perpendicular opening, decked with a sod. On this being raised 
the duck is often seen sitting on her nest, so tame that it allows 
itself to be stroked. Every householder possesses several of 
these artificial burrows, from which he daily gathers during 
several weeks from twenty to thirty eggs, leaving six in each 
nest to be hatched. He also takes care to remove one half of 
the beautiful downs, which are no less light and valuable than 
those of the eider duck. 
One of the most curious members of the duck family is the 
large Logger-headed Duck or goose (Anas brachyptera) of the 
Falkland Islands, which sometimes weighs twenty-two pounds. 
