COMMON SHELDRAKE. 165 
COMMON SHELDRAKE. 
TaporNna cornuta, Gmel. 
Pl. XXIV., fig. 4. 
Geogr. distr.—Europe generally, eastward across the continent of 
Asia to China and Japan, southward to N. Africa; resident in Great 
Britain from the southern counties to N. Scotland, but scarce in the 
south during the breeding season. 
Food.—Alge, insects, Mollusca, fish and ova. 
‘ Nest.—A little dried grass with a lining of down, or entirely of 
own. 
Position of nest.—In deserted rabbit-burrows, or sometimes in the 
hole of a Badger or Fox, at a distance of from three to six feet from 
the entrance, which is covered with a sod made like a lid. 
Number of eggs.—7-16; rarely more than 12. 
Time of nidification.—V-VI. 
A handsome species frequenting the sea-shores ; breeding 
in Norfolk among the sand-hills on the coast. According 
to Mr. Cecil Smith, the birds collect in considerable 
numbers at their various breeding stations, from about 
May till July or August, after which they become scarcer 
in the immediate locality which they had selected. He 
states that, although the species usually breeds in a 
rabbit’s burrow, nevertheless, ‘“‘if a convenient hole 
cannot be found, the nest is occasionally placed in a 
thick bramble, or furze-bush,—always in the very thickest 
part,—a regular creep being made, through which the bird 
approaches her nest, and which the eager birds-nester 
will have to follow up for some distance before he will 
be able to reach the eggs.’—(‘ Birds of Somersetshire,’ 
pp. 676, 677.) yd had . : 
In the 4th edition of Yarrell, this bird is said still to 
breed “sparingly in the rabbit-burrows and_sand-hills 
upon the coast of Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, York- 
shire, Durham, and Northumberland; also in suitable 
localities along the east coast of Scotland, where large 
flocks are observed in winter along the sandy estuaries. 
To Shetland it is a rare visitor at any season; but is 
more common in Orkney. It is numerous in summer in 
the Hebrides, and also in some districts on the west 
side of the mainland. The increase of population has, 
of course, acted unfavourably to it in the north-west of 
England, but it still breeds along the sandy coasts of 
Lancashire, Cheshire, and many parts of Wales. In 
