DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. 191 



for this Duck was skjoldungr, from skjoldr, a pie- 

 bald horse. The Sheldrake is certainly a social 

 bird, but can scarcely be termed a gregarious one. 

 Small parties may be seen feeding in the shallows 

 or swimming in the sea. The bird obtains its food 

 either whilst wandering along the shore its gait is 

 more elegant than that of most Ducks, owing to the 

 comparatively longer legs or when swimming in 

 water just deep enough for it to reach the sandy 

 bottom, when the fore part of the body is sub- 

 merged, and the hind quarters held almost perpen- 

 dicular. This food consists chiefly of sand-hoppers, 

 crustaceans, molluscs, and small fish ; but on shore 

 the bird also eats grass, stems and leaves of 

 aquatic plants, and worms. The Sheldrake rarely 

 wanders far from the sea, its visits to the land 

 seldom extending beyond the dunes or the rough 

 saltings. The note of this Duck is a harsh quack, 

 but in the pairing season an oft-repeated tremulous 

 cry is uttered, and when the young are abroad a 

 guttural kurr is heard. 



The breeding season of the Sheldrake begins in 

 April or May. Although instances of this bird 

 breeding some distance from the coast are on 

 record (Stevenson's Birds of Norfolk], its ordinary 

 nesting-places are never far from the sea. Its 

 favourite breeding-grounds are sand dunes, links, 

 flat sand -banks, and small islands in sea lochs, 

 firths, or estuaries. The bird is not very social at 

 this period, and although many pairs may occupy a 



