266 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



of rabbit-holes, a traditional use from which they now rarely 

 depart, was in its first initiation a device to secure the sitting 

 female from being snapped by a prowling fox or other ' ground 

 vermin ' during the period of incubation. Sheldrakes pair in 

 February and March, and many birds nest in May, a few even 

 earlier, but very few young ones hatch before the middle of 

 June, and there are always late broods, the progeny of birds 

 robbed of their first nests at the beginning of the season. The 

 earliest full clutch of Sheldrake eggs that I can vouch for, 

 consisted of a clutch of nine, taken near Bowness-on-Solway on 

 the 4th of May 1889, but many birds delay laying until the 

 first days of June, especially in cold springs, and one or two 

 of the first eggs are often dropped on the marsh or on the sand- 

 hills. I was formerly under the impression that these dropped 

 eggs always proved unfertile, but have since learnt that such is 

 not necessarily the case. The number of eggs constituting a 

 full clutch in my experience varies from seven to eleven. The 

 Sheldrake flies into her burrow so as to leave little or no track, 

 but footprints can sometimes be detected if a shower of rain 

 has fallen shortly before the return of the bird. Occasionally 

 a few flakes of down adhere to the heather or sandbents near 

 the nesting hole, and thus afford a clue to the whereabouts of 

 the nest. When the young are hatched, the parent birds 

 conduct their brood to the estuary sands, which often entails 

 the young birds travelling a mile or half a mile through the 

 fields. Even when the wide sands are reached, the young are 

 exposed to a good many dangers, many of them being run down 

 and captured alive by the fishermen, in spite of the pace at 

 which they hurry over the sands, the distance they traverse, 

 and the pitiful devices adopted by the old birds to divert the 

 attention of their pursuers from their tender young to them- 

 selves. Few of the young so captured are reared successfully. 

 Every year a number of nests are robbed, and a large percentage 

 of young birds secured, but only a very small number are ever 

 reared, though if the ducklings are brought up beside the sea- 

 shore they seldom disappoint their owners, maturing rapidly 

 when they obtain a sufficient supply of their natural dietary. 

 James Smith of Drumburgh has had a considerable share of 



