ANATIDA, 419 
THE COMMON SHELD-DUCK. 
TapDorna cornvta (S. G. Gmelin). 
This handsome species frequents, as a rule, salt or brackish water, 
and is to be found on the coast during the whole year, especially on 
flat shores, sand-bars and links. In such localities it occurs along 
the east of England, and also on the west of the island, notably in 
Wales, though the increase of population and commerce has inter- 
fered with it in Lancashire and Cheshire; while in the south a 
limited number nest in Devon, Somerset, Dorset, and Hampshire. 
The east side of Scotland, where the bird is an abundant resident, 
is visited, especially in winter, by large flocks escaping from the cold 
of the Continent, and although the “Stock-annet,” as it is trivially 
named, is somewhat local on the west and in the islands, it is 
tolerably numerous during the summer in most of the Hebrides and 
the Orkneys, and it is said to have nested in the Shetlands. In 
Ireland it breeds in many counties, especially in Sligo, Mayo, Clare, 
Waterford and Wexford, becoming more plentiful in winter. 
The Sheld-Duck rarely visits the Fzeroes, and the first record for 
Iceland was in January 1894. It nests on the coast of Norway 
up to about 70° N. lat., and is abundant in Sweden, Denmark, the 
Baltic, the North Frisian Islands and Holland, while it also breeds on 
the shores of France, and, sparingly, in the Spanish Peninsula ; but 
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