SHIELDRAKE. NATATORES. TADORNA. 291 
lameness and inability of flight, in order to attract attention 
and divert the pursuit to themselves. As the Shieldrake is 
much prized as an ornamental appendage to large pieces of 
water, for its handsome form and varied plumage, the in- 
habitants of the coast are in the practice of watching the old 
birds to their nests during the early part of the breeding 
season, and digging up the eggs. These are placed under 
a hen or tame duck ; but great care and attention is requisite 
in rearing the young, and it is seldom that above three or 
four survive from a hatching of a dozen eggs. They soon be- 
come tolerably tame, and answer to the call of the person who 
feeds them ; when fully fledged, however, being very active 
birds, they are apt to stray away, and if left with their pinions 
unmutilated, generally in time fly entirely off, though I have 
known them return, in two or three instances, after an absence 
of many months. They are seldom known to breed in a 
state of confinement; one instance, and that in my own 
neighbourhood, has come to my knowledge, and Monracu 
mentions another case, in which the birds, after a lapse of 
many years, and in a very favourable situation (having the 
range of an extensive canal), produced a brood of nine. 
The defect rests, in his opinion, with the female, as she con- 
stantly appears coy, although strongly urged by the other 
sex, who seem to have all the necessary inclination ; and this, 
he adds, appears more likely, as the Shieldrake has been 
known to breed with the female of the Common Duck, in 
Lord Stanley’s menagerie. Such a cross, however, is rarely 
effected, and only takes place under peculiar circumstances, 
as I have never been able to obtain a mixed progeny, even 
when the species have been kept together for several years. 
Upon the approach of spring, the fleshy knot at the base of 
the upper mandible of this bird, and which, during the 
autumn and winter, is scarcely perceptible, begins to swell, 
and acquires a beautiful crimson hue, and when at its full 
development, is nearly as large as amarble. At this season, 
also, the males pay particular court to the females, erecting 
7Q 
ow 
