The Sheldrake is an early breeder when it is not disturbed, and eggs 

 may often be found by the end of April ; but in places where it is subjected 

 to much molestation, and the first laying is removed, fresh eggs may be 

 taken as late as the second week in June. The Sheldrake always breeds in 

 a burrow, never in the open, so far as is known, generally choosing the 

 deserted burrow of a rabbit, sometimes driving out the occupant. It is not 

 an uncommon thing to find a Sheldrake's nest in a burrow still occupied by 

 the rabbits, though the nest on these occasions is usually in some cttl-de-sac, 

 and not in the main tunnel. The nest is usually from four to ten feet from 

 the mouth of the hole, which is widened out into a chamber to receive the 

 eggs. In places where rabbit-holes are scarce, the birds frequently excavate 

 a burrow for themselves ; it is generally more or less crooked, as if the 

 birds followed the softest part of the soil, and varies from five to ten feet in 

 length, with a large chamber at the end, in which the nest is placed. 



It has been said that the male does not assist the female either in the 

 incubation of the eggs or in the construction of the nest. I think, however, 

 that this is open to doubt. I have taken both old birds from a burrow in 

 which the nest was barely completed ; I watched the duck go down the hole 

 with her bill full of dry grass and promptly blocked up the orifice. On 

 excavating the burrow, which was some five feet long and quite near the 

 surface, I found both the duck and drake in the nest-chamber, which was all 

 ready for the reception of the eggs. 



From seven to twelve eggs are usually laid, but on some occasions as 

 many as sixteen have been found, and the number is often increased by the 

 judicious removal of the eggs as they are laid, care being taken to leave three 

 or four always in the nest. They are white, slightly tinged with cream 

 colour, with a somewhat smooth texture, and vary from 2 '8 to 2 '4 inches in 

 length, and from 2'i to r8 inches in breadth. The nest-chamber is slightly 

 lined with a little dry grass and moss and a profusion of light-coloured down, 

 and on this the eggs are laid. The duck always covers her eggs carefully 

 with the down before leaving the nest, incubation lasting from twenty-four 

 to twenty-six days. The down is very pale in colour, as is usually the case 

 with ducks which breed in holes, and is a beautiful lavender-grey, mixed with 

 little white tufts and a few chestnut-tipped feathers. 



Young in down are dark greyish brown on the upper parts and the 

 forehead, sides of the head and neck, wings, rump, scapulary regions, and 

 under parts are pure white. The bill, legs, and feet are flesh-coloured. 



74 



