454 



4 



since, prior to the passing of the ' Sea Birds' Preservation Act ' in 1869, which affords them 

 protection between the 1st of April and the 1st of August, my notes show several instances of 

 their being killed at Blakeney and Salthouse, as well as on Breydon, in April and May, birds 

 just returning in the perfection of breeding-plumage to their nesting-quarters." 



Mr. Cordeaux says of it (Birds of the Humber District, p. 159): — "Still not uncommon, 

 breeding with us, but is not nearly so numerously distributed as was the case fifteen or twenty 

 years since. At that period a pair or two bred in our north marshes, where the last nest I heard 

 of was taken from the joint between two straw-stacks. At that time a pair or two also annually 

 nested on the Lincolnshire coast near Summercotes. In 1867 a pair bred near Cleethorpes, in 

 the neighbourhood of Grimsby, but in private grounds, to which doubtless they owed their safety. 

 The Sheldrake still nests annually, in limited numbers, in the neighbourhood of Spurn. 



" In the winter of 1869-70 these Ducks were more than usually plentiful on the Humber 

 and along the Lincolnshire coast, when I saw as many as eight in one day (mainly immature 

 birds) which had been shot along the Humber coast. In the stomach of one was a quantity of 

 fine sand and many small shells of the genus Buccinum. The muscular coat of the stomach in 

 this species is remarkably thick and strong, and apparently capable of digesting any tough 

 morsel." In Northumberland and Durham, Mr. Hancock writes (B. of North, and Durh. p. 150), 

 it is " a resident, but not by any means common. It breeds in rabbit-holes on the sandy links by 

 the sea-shore, between Holy Island and Bamborough. It occasionally appears in large flocks in 

 the autumn. I saw on the beach near Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, in October 1871, a flock of forty 

 or fifty : they were chiefly immature." 



In Scotland the present species is found widely distributed, and is tolerably common in many 

 parts, but is nearly or altogether wanting in others. Mr. J. A. Harvie- Brown says that it is 

 common in certain suitable localities in the east and north of Sutherland, but absent, so far as he 

 is aware, in the west ; and Mr. B. Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 362) as follows : — " The Strand- 

 Goose, or Cradh-gheadh of the Hebrideans, is a very common species, though only a summer 

 visitant over the whole of the Long Island. It is also numerous in Skye, Mull, Islay, Jura, 

 Colonsay, Muck, Tyree, and Coll, and, indeed, on nearly all the smaller islands of any consequence 

 in the inner group, where it is found breeding. In North Uist it is often domesticated, and 

 becomes an ornamental addition to the poultry-yard. I saw several pairs in the autumn of 1867 

 on the farm of Mr. J. Macdonald, at Newton, mixing freely with the common ducks and other 

 poultry. Mr. Macdonald had also in his possession at the time of my visit one or two hybrids 

 between this bird and the domestic Duck, which were at once distinguishable by their curious 

 shape, long legs, and smarter movements. Its principal haunts are on the west side of the outer 

 islands, where there are large tracts of sand and low pasture lands ; but even with these attrac- 

 tions the Sheldrake is sometimes not satisfied, as it has been known to betake itself to inland 

 haunts, and settle in burrows on the open heath. In such situations, however, it is never far 

 from water, the Long Island being literally covered with lakes. A few pairs also breed on the 

 east side of North Uist. Mr. Harvie-Brown took a nest on an island in a lake near Loch Maddy 

 on the 10th May 1870 ; the burrow described nearly a circle ; and the eggs, ten in number, which 

 had been sat upon, were found nine feet from the entrance. 



"Mr. Graham has favoured me with the following notes on the species as observed by 



