452 THE SHTELDRAKES. 



nest in Sten-malar, or heaps of stones, at times far away from 

 the strand, and not in holes in the ground of its own making. 

 The female lays from ten to fifteen eggs, of a nearly pure 

 white colour, and larger than those of the common hen. If 

 the fishermen are to be credited, this hird, and the red- 

 breasted merganser, sometimes breed together twenty-six 

 eggs belonging to the two having been found in the same 

 nest; and the shieldrake at the time in possession. The 

 male does not desert the female until the young are half- 

 grown. If captured at a tender age, they thrive wonderfully 

 well, and become very tame. 



The shieldrake would appear to be a most devoted hus- 

 band ; one seldom, indeed, sees him separated from his mate. 

 Pontoppidan, however, gives a rather different version to the 

 story ; " for when the eggs are taken or destroyed," he says, 

 " the cock beats the hen with his wings, and makes her cry 

 most dismally." . '. -, 



When recently in Norfolk, on a visit to Mr. John Henry 

 Gurney, one of our best ornithologists, and possessed of 

 a very fine collection of living birds, I was witness to a 

 remarkable instance of attachment on the part of a male 

 shieldrake towards a common duck, with whom he had 

 mated. For some cause or other the keeper had ejected the 

 duck from the aviary, and the distress of the shieldrake 

 was in consequence excessive. He ran to and fro in every 

 direction, and seemed quite beside himself with grief. The 

 affection evinced on the part of the duck was equally great, 

 and during the time I looked on, her efforts to force her 

 way back through the wire fence that surrounded the aviary, 

 were strenuous and incessant. 



The Ruddy Shieldrake (T. rutila, Steph.), though not 



