216 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



that we may spend hours in the fruitless search for 

 the exact position of the nest. This is usually made 

 at the end of the burrow, and consists in the first 

 place of a handful of dry grass possibly a rabbit's 

 old abode; but as the creamy- white and fragile eggs 

 accumulate (to the number of a dozen or sometimes 

 more) the old birds surround them with down of 

 exquisite softness and lavender-gray in colour. As 

 is generally the case where both sexes are showy, 

 and incubate in covered or concealed nests, the 

 male bird takes his due share in the duty of hatching; 

 but so careful are the birds in relieving each other 

 usually at morning and evening that they seldom 

 betray the whereabouts of the nest. The young 

 birds, soon after being hatched, quit the burrow 

 and betake themselves in their parents' company to 

 the sea-shore. In this locality the bird is certainly 

 becoming rarer owing to the way the young are 

 captured and the eggs taken by fishermen and others. 

 We once inspected an entire brood of a dozen duck- 

 lings that a fisher lad was rearing at Seahouses. 

 He had them confined in a small pen and fed them 

 chiefly upon sand-hoppers, which they were marvel- 

 lously adept at capturing as he threw them down 

 one by one amongst the downy little creatures. 

 From Holy Island right round to the Forth, this 

 Duck may be met with breeding, preferring in the 

 latter locality the numerous sandy islets. Round 



