SHELDRAKE. 147 



COMMON SHELDRAKE. Tadorna cornuta, (Graelin). 



Yarrell, iv. p. 352; Dresser, vi. p. 451; Seebohm, Hi. p. 520; 

 Ibis List, p. 122; Tadorna vulpanser, Hurting, p. 61 ; 

 Anas tadorna, Pulteney's List, p. 20. 



On the sandy parts of the coast the Sheldrake is 

 not uncommon, and breeds regularly in the rabbit- 

 burrows, from which habit it has acquired the 

 provincial name of " Burrow-duck." The young 

 broods, as soon as they are hatched, are led down to 

 the sea by their parents, and may then be seen in 

 " troops " (as they are locally called) of from thirty 

 to forty. On being approached, the old ones fly away, 

 leaving the young to shift for themselves by diving. 

 They may be easily shot when they come up, but you 

 can seldom kill more than one or two at a time, as 

 they always disperse before you can get very near 

 them. Colonel Hawker, upon whose authority this 

 statement is made, adds that a professional wild- 

 fowler named Read, who was born and bred in the 

 Isle of Purbeck, always asserted that as soon as 

 the young are hatched they are led to the water, 

 and there left in charge of only two or three old 

 birds, which, " like schoolmasters " (as he said\ have 

 sometimes the care of about a hundred young ones. 

 Thus they remain until all the " troop " are able to 

 fly with them (about September) when they are seen 

 no more until the first hard weather before Christmas 

 (Zoologist, 1 8 78, p. 131). During the severe winter of 

 1838, says Colonel Hawker, there were a great num- 

 ber of " Burrow-ducks " on the coast. " They were 



