76 ANATID.E. 



seen these dive but never come up again. Various instances of wild 

 ducks building in trees are on record ; thirty feet being the greatest 

 height of the nest from the ground mentioned in the latest work 

 on ' British Birds/ Some years ago, a nest was formed in a tree 

 in Hillsborough Park, about forty feet from the ground, and in 

 1848, a magpie's nest was taken possession of as the site for an- 

 other, although it was very near the top of a fine silver fir, one 

 of the loftiest trees in the demesne, and not less than eighty to 

 ninety feet in height. This tree, too, was at least a furlong dis- 

 tant from the lake or water of any kind. The nest was disco- 

 vered by a boy who is in the habit of annually destroying the eggs 

 of " winged vermin" (hawks, crows, magpies, &c.), and wdio 

 ascended the tree to this one for the purpose, but, when near it, 

 was astonished to see a wild duck instead of a magpie fly off. On 

 examination of the nest, he found it to contain fifteen eggs. When 

 my informant visited the place soon afterwards, the climber was 

 sent again to the nest to see what progress had been made, and 

 the egg-shells, broken, &c., in the peculiar manner of those from 

 which young birds have made their exit, only remained. None 

 of the ducklings being found on the ground around the base of 

 the tree, it was presumed that they had all been carried by their 

 parent in safety from their lofty birth-place. Even a wild-duck, 

 the occupant of this nest, might be able fairly to boast, that 



" Our eyrie buildeth in the cedar's top, 

 Aad dallies in tlie wind, and scorns tlie sun." 



I have been credibly informed that in the demesne at Castle 

 Coole, county of Fermanagh, a tree, selected by a wild duck for 

 building in, was that on which a large bell, in daily requisition at 

 particular hours, was hung : the nest was placed about fifteen or 

 twenty feet above the ground, and the eggs were incubated for 

 the usual period, but without success. 



On the borders of Lough Neagh, great numbers of these birds 

 breed ; and some of the best haunts there were, until a few years 

 ago — and perhaps are still — annually resorted to for the unsports- 

 manlike purpose of " flapper-shooting," /. e., kilHng the young 

 birds when nearly full grown, but before they are well able to fly. 



