LLANDDWYN 49 



swimming across when we got in among the 

 stragglers ; but, what with the mud and the water, 

 and the incredible resourcefulness of the scattered 

 young birds in dodging, we secured only two of them 

 for leisurely inspection. They were very unequal in 

 size, but certainly belonged to the same brood, and 

 that a large one. It is not perhaps a matter for 

 surprise that one of us counted up to twenty-four, for 

 the birds were circulating here, there, and every- 

 where, and if they had not entered the water, it is 

 not impossible that in trying to count and catch them 

 at the same time we might have achieved a grand 

 total of forty- four. 



The young Shelduck runs properly, with no duck 

 or goose-like waddle, but with the free gait of 

 plovers and their like. But it is not in running that 

 it excels ; it is a born dodger. It will tack and 

 double with an adroitness past calculation, anticipating 

 with surprising resourcefulness one's efforts to capture 

 it. However, we had our two birds, and gathering 

 a good supply of cockles (they were said to be 

 poisonous for man at this time of the year, called by 

 the Welsh Mis Cwn, or Dogs' Month) we took the 

 young Shelds up on to the sand, and opened the 

 bivalves for them, the birds sitting down with us and 

 receiving the fish in the most matter-of-fact manner. 

 But we could not trust this show of fellowship, for, 

 to their credit be it said, they esteemed freedom 

 above cockles. Still, they played the game squarely 

 and with no mean tricks. When the mood came 

 upon him, one would get up and stand back, frankly 

 ready for escape. The next move was the human 

 grab and Sheld's evasion, during which the second 



