184 BIRDS AND MAN 



westwards along the coast to Dunster, that 

 1 have been best able to observe and enjoy 

 the beautiful sheldrake — almost the only large 

 bird which is now permitted to exist in 

 Somerset. 



The sheldrake of the British Islands, called 

 the common sheldrake (or sheld-duck) in the 

 natural history books, for no good reason, since 

 there is but one, is now becoming common 

 enough as an ornamental waterfowl. It is to be 

 seen in so many parks and private grounds all 

 over the country that the sight of it in its 

 conspicuous plumage must be pretty famihar to 

 people generally. And many of those who Imow 

 it best as a tame bird would, perhaps, say that 

 the descriptive epithets of strange and beautiful 

 do not exactly fit it. They would say that it 

 has a striking appearance, or that it is peculiar 

 and handsome in a curious way ; or they might 

 describe it as an abnormally slender and elegant- 

 looking Aylesbury duck, whiter than that domestic 

 bird, with a crimson beak and legs, dark-green 

 glossy head, and sundry patches of chestnut-red 

 and black on its snowy plumage. In calling it 

 "strange" I was thinking of its manners and 



