PLATE II 

 SHELD-DUCK. Tadorna cornuta 



/line 5///, 1893. This photograph was taken from a nest which we dug open 

 on Tents Muir, Fife, to show the eggs, as they lay in their bed of down. 

 We saw the tracks of the birds in the sand at the mouth of the rabbit-hole, 

 and concluded that it must contain a nest. We had no proper implements 

 to dig with, and had to work a passage along the line of the hole with 

 walking-sticks, scraping the loosened sand away with our hands. On reaching 

 the nest-chamber I found that the old bird was on, but she made her escape 

 by another hole. We spread a handkerchief over the eggs and down, while 

 we removed the part above the nest, to prevent the loosened sand from cover- 

 ing everything up, and I took two photographs of the down and eggs. 



The nest was about five feet from the mouth of the hole, and about 

 two and a half feet from the surface of the ground ; it was made of a few 

 scraps of bent and dry grass and a large mass of down, among which the 

 eggs were almost hidden. This nest was almost a mile from the sea in 

 a very dry part of the moor. We did not see any of the Drakes in the 

 vicinity, though we found three or four occupied burrows. 



On the Culbin Sands in Moray I used to see the drakes coming between 

 five and six o'clock in the afternoon to escort the ducks to the feeding-grounds. 

 They would fly round and round uttering their curious whistle, and calling 

 to the ducks, who always joined them after a few minutes, and flew off with 

 them. I used to wonder how the sitting bird could hear her mate calling, 

 when she was so far down the hole. 



u 77 



