670 CLASS AVES. 



one of these birds in spring is thus perceived acting as a 

 videt, there is a certainty of finding the nest. It is only 

 necessary to await the hour in which he goes to the burrow ; 

 but if he happen to perceive any one, he flies instantly in 

 an opposite direction, and goes to wait for his female near 

 the sea. On their return, both fly for a considerable time 

 above the warren, and do not descend until all symptoms of 

 danger have vanished. The parents conduct the young to 

 the sea the day after they are disclosed, and generally time 

 it so as to be there when the tide is in. The young have 

 thus the advantage of getting sooner to the water, and after 

 this, they appear no more on land. If they are met when 

 proceeding from the nest to the sea, the parents fly away. 

 The mother then aff'ects to fall at a hundred paces distant ; 

 she drags herself on the belly, striking the earth with her 

 wings, and by this stratagem attracts the hunter towards her. 

 As the little ones remain motionless until the return of their 

 conductors, they may be easily taken if discovered. 



The wild shieldrakes do not collect in flocks like the 

 ducks ; they live in couples either on sea or land, and their 

 union is never dissolved except by the death of the male or 

 female. 



The down of the tadorna is as fine as that of the eider. 

 Some of these birds remain here and in France in winter, but 

 the majority depart in autumn. The species is also found in 

 the Orkneys, Iceland, Gothland, Kamtschatka, and even the 

 coast of Van Diemen's Land. 



The Arched Duck , figured in Dr. Horsfield's elegant work 

 on the animals of Java, is described at p. 623. 



The Hawkeshiiry Duck, Anas Juhata, is of the size of a 

 wigeon. The head and neck are chocolate brown, and on 

 the nape the feathers are more or less elongated in different 

 individuals ; the feathers of the breast are undulated, the 



