COMMON SHELLDRAKE. 239 



wildest of birds till half starved by the freezing of the 

 shell-fish, and then they became the tamest of all wild- 

 fowl/' 



" 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 para- 

 dox 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 

 surprise." 



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. Temminck 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. 



