340 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



the numbers to about eight hundredj which average is now 

 maintained. See Mr. Mansel-Pleydell^s ' Birds of Dorset- 

 shire/ where many further interesting particulars of this 

 Swannery are given. 



So much has been written of this bird in poetry and in 

 prosCj and so numerous are the myths, both classical and 

 legendary, of which it is the subject, that to refer to them 

 would far exceed the limits of this little work, neither do 

 they apply especially to the county of Sussex. 



COMMON SHELD-DUCK, or BUREOW DUCK. 



Tadorna covnuta. ^ 



This Duck cannot be called abundant on the Sussex coast,- 

 but it is occasionally met with in small parties of four, 

 five, or six, at sea, most of which are immature, and it is 

 seldom seen on the shore ; though I well remember, when 

 a boy, seeing about such a number on the beach at Shoreham, 

 which I approached within some hundred yards or so; at 

 that distance they looked black and white when they rose, 

 but an old coastguardsman told me they were Bar Ganders, 

 and had been about there two or three days. I suspect 

 the syllable " Bar " is a contraction -of " Burrow." Its 

 food consists of small mussels and other bivalves, sea- 

 worms, &c. The young, before they can fly, dive freely, but 

 whether the adult dive or not I have never been able to 

 ascertain. 



On the south coast the nearest breeding-place to Sussex 

 is Poole Harbour, in Dorsetshire, whence I have received 

 eggs, taken out of rabbit-holes in the sandhills on the coast, 



