162 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



in 1889 to a relation in the county, who required 

 them chiefly to assist in clearing an ornamental piece 

 of water of weeds. 



180. SHELDRAKE. 



Tadorna cormita. 



This handsome bird is a rare straggler to the 

 valley of the Nen above Peterborough, and I do 

 not feel sure of having ever seen it in a wild state in 

 our county, but I have good reason to believe that a 

 very fine specimen now stuffed in my possession was 

 killed near Peterborough in the winter of 1856-57. 

 Mr. A. G. Elliot informed me that a Sheldrake was 

 shot near Warmington, in 1867, and at the time of 

 his writing to me was in the possession of a Mr. A. 

 Bell, of Peterborough. My friend Mr. G. Hunt, 

 on August 1, 1881, saw a Sheldrake alight in a 

 grass field near Tichmarsh, and made an inefi'ectual 

 attempt to stalk and shoot it ; I heard from my 

 head gamekeeper that his son saw a bird of this 

 species on a flooded meadow near Thorpe Water- 

 ville, on March 14, 1888 ; and, lastly, I have recently 

 seen a stufled specimen that was killed (as I am in- 

 formed by Mr. E. C. Burton) on Daventry Eeservoir 

 many years ago. The Sheldrake breeds in holes 

 in the sand-hills on various parts of the coasts of 

 England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. My personal 

 acquaintance with it in British dominions is almost 

 entirely confined to a sandy reach of shore on the 

 coast of Merioneth, where, in August 1851, I fre- 

 quently observed three or four family-parties, con- 

 sisting respectively of from 7 to 12 individuals, 



