i 4 8 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



the wildest of birds until half-starved by the freezing 

 of the shellfish, and then they became the tamest of all 

 wild-fowl." Being very handsome birds in their adult 

 garb of black, white, and chestnut, they are often 

 kept, with other ornamental water-fowl, on private 

 water; but the young are troublesome to rear. 

 Colonel Hawker writes : " You may keep young 

 ' Burrow-ducks ' for five or six weeks, provided you 

 give them crumbs of bread and only a little water 

 three times a day. But if you let them get into the 

 water, or even drink too much before they are full 

 grown and fit to be turned out on your pond, you 

 are almost sure to kill them. This appears quite 

 a paradox with birds that in their wild state are 

 always in the water ; but such is the case." l 



Occasionally in hard weather the Sheldrake wan- 

 ders inland, and is sometimes shot at some distance 

 from the coast. One in Viscount Portman's collec- 

 tion was shot at Bryanston in the month of January ; 

 another was killed at Berwick Farm, Burton Brad- 

 stock; a third was killed at Weymouth in November; 

 and an adult male at Lodmoor in February 1870. 

 In June 1884 a brood was seen on the Arne sand- 

 banks ; and a flock of them frequented Littlesea 

 in July 1885. 



1 " Instructions to Young Sportsmen in all that Relates to Guns and 

 Shooting," ed. 1859, pp. 220, 221. 



