degree to his own wariness when once away from his 

 home. A cruel fate eventually caused the destruction 

 of this bird by mistake, at the hands of an excited 

 gunner, who had been intimately acquainted with his 

 victim from its downy infancy. I have no acquaintance 

 with tins species in a wild state ; it is said to breed 

 in considerable numbers on the Lower Danube and 

 Southern Russia, as well as in Northern Africa and 

 Asia Minor, also sparsely and locally in Andalucia. I 

 was assured that the Ruddy Sheld-Duck breeds in 

 Cyprus, but have no proof of the truth of this assertion. 

 This bird nests in holes in the ground or the crevices 

 and caverns of high cliffs, also occasionally in hollow 

 trees. In captivity I find these birds, though highly 

 ornamental, by no means very desirable denizens of my 

 fowl-ponds, as they are remarkably quarrelsome with 

 other species, and, whilst nesting, as savage as Swans ; 

 besides this, their incessant hoarse cries are very mono- 

 tonous and unpleasant. In India, where this species is 

 very common, it is generally known to our countrymen 

 as the Brahminy Duck. The flesh is almost uneatable. 



