218 T ADORN A T ADORN A 



other, and may, like the geese, pair for life. This is, at least, the opinion of many- 

 writers, but it is one very difficult to verify. Radde (1854) mentions the case of a 

 male who remained by the dead body of his mate for eight hours. On the Island of 

 Sylt, where the birds nest in artificial burrows, one male is said to pay attention to 

 several females. 



The display is not at all specialized or characteristic. Both sexes dip their heads 

 like geese, but according to Heinroth (1911) not even this is always seen. The male 

 meanwhile utters a peculiar cooing note. A complete submergence of both birds 

 follows, as if in the bathing play, and when the couple comes to the surface the male 

 has assumed the mating position, and seized the female by the feathers of the head 

 (Heinroth, 1911). In other cases the submergence is not so complete (Bodinus, 

 1862). A peculiar habit, which may be part of the display, was noted by Macgilli- 

 vray (1852). In spring and summer, he says, the birds "erect themselves, thrusting 

 forward the neck and shaking the head as though endeavoring to swallow or trying 

 to get rid of something too wide for the gullet." Can this be allied to the tongue- 

 swallowing movements observed by Heinroth (1911) in the Muscovy? 



In western Europe the nest is almost always located in rabbit-burrows, among 

 sand-hills, but the holes of foxes and badgers are also used. Sometimes the nest is 

 made in hollows at the foot of cliffs, or in clefts in the rocks, but it is always con- 

 cealed from above. A few nests have been described as located beneath very thick 

 bushes, such as the furze. Stone fences and openings under the flooring of houses 

 and barns have also been selected. It has even been said that hollow trees are oc- 

 casionally occupied, as on the Island of Poel, off Mecklenburg (Wuestnei, 1898; 

 Naumann, 1896-1905). In southern Russia, and once even in Lincolnshire, England, 

 the nests were placed in holes in straw or hay-stacks (Radde, 1854; Brauner, 1899; 

 Cordeaux, 1896). The burrows may be situated in barren tracts of sand or moor a 

 short distance from the water; but at other times the nests are at some distance 

 from the shore, even several miles (Collett, 1873), in open regions, on the edge of 

 woods or even in open places in wooded tracts (Naumann, 1896-1905). 



Sheldrakes prefer burrows already formed by other animals, but they will en- 

 large or improve these to suit their own tastes. Occasionally, on islands where there 

 are no burrowing mammals, they will dig hollows of their own, which, however, 

 are not as long as fox-holes (Bechstein, 1791; Macgillivray, 1852; Naumann, 1896- 

 1905; Kretschner, Ornith. Monatsber., vol. 1, p. 156, 1893). On Juist, and on Nor- 

 deroog, since rabbits were exterminated, Sheldrakes are said to be nesting in the 

 open (Schuster, 1904; Dietrich, Ornith. Monatsschr., 1910, p. 53); but this, if true, 

 is very exceptional. Most older German writers were fully convinced that they some- 

 times nest in complete amity in the same burrows with the fox or badger, even 

 using the same entrances. Naumann recounts in great detail the experience of a 

 reliable acquaintance who actually observed Sheldrakes nesting in burrows known 



