a 
DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. IgI 
for this Duck was skjéldungr, from skyéldr, a pie- 
bald horse. The Sheldrake is certainly a social 
bird, but can scarcely be termed a gregarious one. 
Small parties may be seen feeding in the shallows 
or swimming in the sea. The bird obtains its food 
either whilst wandering along the shore—its gait is 
more elegant than that of most Ducks, owing to the 
comparatively longer legs—or when swimming in 
water just deep enough for it to reach the sandy 
bottom, when the fore part of the body is sub- 
merged, and the hind quarters held almost perpen- 
dicular. This food consists chiefly of sand-hoppers, 
crustaceans, molluscs, and small fish; but on shore 
the bird also eats grass, stems and leaves of 
aquatic plants, and worms. The Sheldrake rarely 
wanders far from the sea, its visits to the land 
seldom extending beyond the dunes or the rough 
saltings. The note of this Duck is a harsh quack, 
but in the pairing season an oft-repeated tremulous 
cry is uttered, and when the young are abroad a 
guttural £urr is heard. 
The breeding season of the Sheldrake begins in 
April or May. Although instances of this bird 
breeding some distance from the coast are on 
record (Stevenson's Lzrds of Norfolk), its ordinary 
nesting-places are never far from the sea. Its 
favourite breeding-grounds are sand dunes, links, 
flat sand-banks, and small islands in sea lochs, 
firths, or estuaries. The bird is not very social at 
this period, and although many pairs may occupy a 
