226' 



ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



absence of many months.* They rarely breed in con- 

 iinement ; but Mr. Selby has known one instance, and 

 Montagu mentions another, in which the birds, after 

 the lapse of some years, and having the range of an ex- 

 tensive piece of water, produced a brood of nine. The 

 eggs are of an oval form, both ends equally rounded; 

 and are either of a pure white, or with a very faint 

 thige of green : they are usually hatched in thirty days. 



The sheldrake enjoys a wide geographic range, being 

 found in all the temperate and northern parts of Europe : 

 it even extends to Iceland; but is there said to be only a 

 summer visiter : with us it remains during the whole 

 year, and does not, like so many others of its family, 

 quit its native haunts ; nor do they change their mates 

 at the breeding season. Naturally, the sheldrake is a 

 marine duck ; and Mr. Selby observes that it is very 

 common upon such parts of the Northumbrian coast as 

 abound in sand hills ; the numbers being often consider- 

 ably increased by flocks which pass to and from the 

 more northerly parts of Europe : they delight in such 

 sandy tracts as abound in rabbit burrows — breecUng in 

 such as have been deserted ; in these the females build 

 their nests of dried grass and fine down, often ten or 

 twelve feet from the entrance of the aperture. Their 

 natural food consists of small marine animals and sea 

 weeds, but when domesticated, or in captivity, they thrive 

 very well upon grain, and the usual food of ordinary 

 ducks. 



The sheldrake is nearly two feet in length. The whole 

 of the bill is of a rich blood red : the irides are brown ; 

 and the feet flesh-coloured : head, and half of the neck, 

 dull green ; the lower part being white : the wing covers, 

 the back, the sides, the rump, and the base of the tail 

 are also pure white : the scapulars, the quills, the vent, 

 and the tips of the tail are deep black ; and there is a 

 broad band on' the middle of the belly of the same 

 colour : on the breast is another broad band of rufous 

 red, which reaches to the interscapulars : tlic under tail 

 * Selby, Ilhtst. of Brit. Orn. ii. 291. 



