THE CRUDEST NEST FORMS 83 



their eggs in disused fox earths, rabbit holes, and so 

 forth, and of which our own Sheldrake is an excellent 

 example. Exceptionally these birds are said to make 

 their own burrows, and in that case they are almost 

 circular. These burrows are sometimes as much as 

 fifteen feet in length. A slight nest is made at the 

 extremity of dry grass, but as likely as not this may 

 have been brought there by the original owner of the 

 burrow, and not by the birds, but as the eggs are 

 deposited a plentiful bed of down accumulates around 

 them. Then there are other species that prefer to 

 nest among holes in rocks, as the Ruddy Sheldrake, 

 but the down added after laying commences is the 

 principal nest ; or others yet again like the Eiders 

 that select by choice low rocky islands, making their 

 nests among crannies and clefts, or even in suitable 

 hollows in ruined masonry. These are more bulky 

 than the generality of Ducks' nests, yet rudely made, 

 composed of dry sea-weed, heather, coarse grass, and 

 bits of dead vegetation ; the added lining of down, 

 however, softens their crudeness and lends them 

 beauty. The majority of Ducks place their nests in 

 more open situations amongst vegetation of some 

 kind, often aquatic, and especially among heather, 

 bracken, and other long herbage, whilst the shelter 

 of a bush is very frequently sought. These nests 

 usually consist of a hollow of varying depth rudely 

 lined with dry grass, dead leaves, broken sedge and 

 reeds, but in some cases scarcely any nest whatever 



