OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 365 



squatting, you see a pair waddling to the water's edge. Again 

 and again the pair call and answer (side by side as they are, one 

 would think that save out of sheer spite they need not shout at 

 each other thus), then with a rapid chuckle off they go, their 

 wings clattering as they rise like a train on an iron culvert, and 

 with them of course go all the Fowl. Further on are a lot of 

 Geese ; you work towards them — vain hope. The ruddy wide- 

 awakes have alighted near these now, and duly put them up 

 before you are within a hundred yards, and sometimes a pair 

 will thus persecute you for a couple of miles, before they finally 

 turn up-stream to return to their proper beat." The flesh of this 

 Duck is hard and dry, with a rank and fishy flavour, but is 

 rendered palatable if the bird be skinned before it is cooked. 



Nidification. — The Ruddy Sheldrake, like the preceding 

 species, pairs for life, and the male and female are said to be 

 tenderly attached to each other, and rarely stray far apart even 

 during winter. At the breeding grounds in Mongolia, however, 

 Prjevalsky states that the males often fight not only with them- 

 selves but with other species. This Sheldrake is an early breeder, 

 beginning to lay in Persia early in May and in Dauria by the 

 middle of that month. In Europe it is earlier still, and begins 

 laying towards the end of April. The nest is made in various 

 situations, but almost always in a covered site. Sometimes it is 

 made in holes in cliffs, at others in holes and clefts in the ground, 

 even in the middle of a corn-field ; whilst holes in trees and logs, 

 and the deserted nests of birds of prey, are also selected. Prje- 

 valsky states that it is sometimes made in the fireplaces of houses 

 in deserted Mongol villages ; whilst it has been found amongst a 

 colony of Griffon Vultures and near nests of the Raven, the Black 

 Kite, the Egyptian Vulture, and other cliff-haunting birds. It is 

 often made at considerable distances from water, but more fre- 

 quently in rocks that overhang a stream or lake. But little nest 

 is made, although the eggs usually rest amongst a soft bed of 

 down plucked from the parent's body. The eggs are from eight 

 to sixteen in number, more frequently the former than the latter. 

 They are creamy white in colour, smooth in texture, and very 

 fragile. They measure on an average 27 inches in length by 

 1-8 inch in breadth. Colour of down undescribed. It is said 



