455 



himself at Iona : — ' This handsome and showy bird is common at all times. Its nest is frequently 

 found on the smaller islets in rocky holes, or holes scooped in the sand ; and the young broods are 

 often met swimming a little way from the land, convoyed by one or two of the old birds, who 

 show their uneasiness by flying about, rising and alighting just out of shot of the approaching 

 boat. But their anxiety for their little ones is groundless, as the little downy creatures are quite 

 able to take care of themselves. They disperse in all directions, and dive and double under water 

 with surprising agility and cunning, so as to make catching them impossible. Being mud-feeders, 

 we never cared to shoot the Sheldrakes for the pot ; for in spite of their fine feathers, they are but 

 foul feeding.' 



" On the mainland the Sheldrake is, in many localities, very numerous in the breeding- 

 season, frequenting sandy pasture-lands near the shore, where it generally takes possession of 

 rabbit-holes. Its principal haunts are often wet sands, on which it is not easy to stalk a bird so 

 watchful ; but during the time the females are sitting the usual shyness is not so noticeable. I 

 have seen beautiful groups of male birds on the sea off Ardlamont Point, in Argyleshire, and 

 have traced it all along the south-western shores as far as the southern extremity of Wigtonshire. 

 On the eastern coasts of Scotland it is resident all the year, usually remaining on the sandy 

 shores of the larger estuaries, where there is a broad expanse, on which an enemy is easily 

 detected. I have seen large flocks in January and February at the mouth of the Tyne in East 

 Lothian; and Mr. Harvie-Brown informs me that on the banks of the Forth, at Grangemouth, 

 he had at various times seen flocks of twenty or thirty Sheldrakes in the months of October and 

 January." In Shetland it is very rare. Dr. Saxby remarks that one was killed at Balta Sound 

 in 1810, a second about 1850, and a skin of a third was sent to him from the same place in the 

 spring of 1872 without particulars as to the precise locality where the bird had been procured. 

 He adds, however, that it is not improbable that other occurrences have been suffered to pass 

 unnoticed. 



In Ireland it is said to have decreased considerably in numbers of late years. Thompson 

 writes (B. of Ireland, iii. p. 66) as follows : — " When visiting Dundrum in 1836, I was told that 

 the Sheldrake still breeds on the extensive marine sandhills there. On the largest of the 

 Copeland Islands they bred annually until the beginning of the present century, when it became 

 inhabited. The chief farmer there, in 1827, imagined that they and the rabbits were contem- 

 poraneous, telling me that so long as the rabbits were numerous the Sheldrakes bred regularly ; 

 but since the former were all destroyed, the birds ceased to visit the island for that purpose. At 

 the Kinnegar, near Holy wood, Belfast Bay, it is said that they annually bred until a late period, 

 when the locality became too much frequented. A pair, however, made the attempt in a rabbit- 

 burrow here in the summer of 1832 ; but the nest was discovered and robbed of several eggs. 

 Even on the extensive sands of the wild peninsula of the Horn, in Donegal, where, if these birds 

 require the aid of rabbits to burrow for them, there are thousands of such pioneers, I was told 

 in the summer of 1832 that they had ceased to breed. The Sheldrake still continues to resort 

 to the rabbit-holes in the great sandy tract of Magilligan, on the coast of Londonderry. Their 

 eggs are sought after by the neighbouring peasantry, who place them under hens ; and when the 

 young are reared, a ready market is found for them among the gentry, by whom they are kept 

 for ornament." 



