4846 Tue ZooLocist—Marcu, 1876. 
but only take up their winter quarters in a more suitable and sheltered 
district. That the waterhen possesses good powers of flight there is no 
question. I have myself flushed one on the riverside which rose high in 
the air like a pheasant, and flew straight away for nearly a mile that I could 
see, and it seemed to be going as quickly and as high thenas ever. I have 
also frequently had them pass me at night, going very quickly, and uttering 
occasionally a peculiar cry, that is usually said by the people hereabouts to 
proceed from an owl, and which noise is often heard at night far away from 
any place where waterhens are known to be. I have never known them to 
make this cry except when on the wing, and it is different altogether from 
the note (crick) so often heard from amongst,sedge, &c.; that it is a waterhen, 
and not an owl which makes this noise, I have proved over and over again, 
though I confess it was years before Idid so. In severe weather, and when 
the ground is covered with snow, waterhens commonly climb into thick 
whitethorn bushes, hedges, &c., and remain there during the day. I think 
they resort to these places for concealment, and. not for the purpose of 
getting ivy berries, haws, or anything of the kind. What makes me almost 
certain that such is the case is I knew a stream frequented by waterhens, 
and which had no shelter in the shape of coarse grass, &c., in which the 
birds could hide themselves, and they always climbed into a very tall 
whitethorn hedge, and remained in the thickest part amongst old sparrows’ 
nests, &c., and when night came on they sallied out to the stream.— I’; Boyes. 
The Original and correct Spelling of Shielduck.—I observe that the name 
shelduck is generally printed shielduck or shieldrake in the ‘ Zoologist.’ 
As naturalists are now pretty well agreed that shelduck is the right 
spelling, it might be well to spell itso in future. Sheld is an ancient word, 
meaning particoloured. The old writer Willughby says, ‘It is called shel- 
drake, from its being particoloured, sheld signifying dappled or spotted with 
white” (The Ornithology, p. 28, ef. p. 863): and the Rey. C. A. Johns in his 
excellent work upon ‘ British Birds’ says that the word “shelled” in the 
sense of variegated is still current in the eastern counties of England 
(p. 493.) Walcott in his ‘ Synopsis of British Birds” writes, ‘ Sheld, parti- 
coloured; inde sheldrake,” and refers to p. 85 of ‘ Ray’s Collection of 
English Words,’ a work I have not in the house; but I am sure that Ray 
was much too careful to give a word in his collection, on the faith of 
Willughby or any other person, which he had not himself verified. Other 
authorities might probably be raked up, but enough has been said to show 
that we ought to go back to the original spelling, which is the correct one, 
and not leave the incorrect one now in use until it becomes too firmly esta- 
blished to be got rid of. There are other birds which for the same reason 
as the shelduck have received names with the same beginning, but I will 
only call up one of them as evidence, the goldeneye, which was called 
shelden, according to Willughby (J. ¢., 18), and Morton, ‘ Natural History 
of Northamptonshire ’ (1712), p. 4831.—J. H. Gurney, jun. 
a 
