244 ANATIDJl. 



" 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." 



This bird is found on most of the sandy parts of the 

 coast of Ireland, and in Scotland as far as the Shetland 

 Isles, but is more common in those of Orkney, where, Dr. 

 Patrick Neill says, " it has got the name of Sly Goose, 

 from the arts which the natives find it employs to decoy 

 them from the neighbourhood of its nest : it frequently 

 feigns lameness, and waddles away with one wing trailing 

 on the ground, thus inducing a pursuit of itself, till, judg- 

 ing its young to be safe from discovery, it suddenly takes 

 flight, and leaves the outwitted Orcadian gaping with sur- 

 prise." 



Mr. Dann tells me this beautiful Duck appears early in 

 May in great numbers on the Swedish coast, where they 

 breed ; and that they are found on the west coast of Nor- 

 way, as high as Drontheim, in small numbers. 



It is found both in the northern and western countries 

 of Europe, on the borders of the sea. M. Ternminck says, 

 it is abundant in Holland, on the coasts of France, and 

 occasionally visits the rivers of Germany. M. Savi in- 

 cludes it in his birds of Italy ; and it visits Corfu, Sicily, 

 and Malta in winter occasionally. Keith Abbott, Esq. 

 sent the Zoological Society specimens from Trebizond. 

 B. Hodgson, Esq. includes it among the Birds of Nepal ; 

 and M. Ternminck says this species is found in Japan. 



In the adult male the beak is vermilion ; the irides 

 brown ; the whole of the head and upper part of the neck 



