Birds. 7493 



are leaving Loch Laighall, and are betaking themselves to the islands on 

 the smaller lakes, which from their situation are inaccessible to man, 

 as no boat can be brought to them. After their nests have been 

 robbed they never lay again." — Zool. 2014. 



Materials. Sedges, flags, rushes, grasses, generally in large masses. 



Eggs, 8—12. White. 



Common Shieldrake, Anas tadorna. 



Situation. This bird occasionally, perhaps frequently, breeds in 

 this country, selecting those parts of the sea-shore which, in the North 

 of England and in Scotland, are so frequently honeycombed by 

 rabbits ; these excavations they enlarge, and often place their nest ten 

 or twelve feet fi'om the entrance. 



Materials. Dried flags, sedges, reeds, &c., for the exterior ; the 

 lining always composed of down plucked from their own bodies. 



Eggs, 10 — 12. Of a roundish oblong form, having a very smooth 

 shell and being cream-coloured. 



Shoveller, Anas clypeata. 



Situation. This bird is said to breed in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, 

 Cambridgeshire and Scotland : it always selects that part of marshes 

 farthest removed from the observation of man. 



Materials. Flags, sedges, reeds. 



Eggs, 8 — 12. White, manifestly tinged with green. 



Wild Duck, Anas Boschas. 



Situation. In some spot in the marshes rather drier and more 

 elevated than the surrounding flat, but sufficiently near to the water 

 for the hen bird to lead her ducklings to the water imme- 

 diately on being hatched. There are, however, many exceptions to 

 this usual site of the duck's nest, and we occasionally find them 

 building on pollard willows, or occupying a deserted crow's nest in a 

 tree, and even on church-towers : the problem " how does the duck, 

 breeding in such situations, convey its ducklings to the water?" has 

 been discussed in the pages of the ' Zoologist ' with much eagerness 

 and a good deal of talent : it has been contended that she carries 

 them one by one in her feet, in her beak, under her beak, «&c. ; and 

 several writers have insisted, certainly contrary to fact, that these ele- 

 vated nests are always so placed that the ducklings, when hatched, 

 may fall at once into the water : the subject is one which still requires 

 the most careful observation : as a simple fact this habit of wild 

 ducks is perfectly familiar to the inhabitants of Lapland, " in which 

 country cylinders of wood stopped at both ends, and having a hole in 

 the side, are elevated on poles, purposely to entice wild ducks to 



