BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
seldom found far away from water, though we have once or 
twice come upon them on the flat sands of the Solway, more 
than half-a-mile from the sea or any stream ; but notwith- 
standing, a single specimen was all that could be obtained, 
from the brood scattering, and making use of every little 
pool as a cover by diving, which in an extremity of this kind 
-they do most actively."* 
The young of the Sheld-Duck are often taken and 
reared by the fishermen ; but away from the sea-shore, 
deprived of their natural food, they do not seem to thrive, 
nor do they breed readily in confinement. Sir Richard 
Graham, of Netherby (Cumberland), writes me, however, 
in 1908 :— " I have got about fifteen pairs of Sheld- 
Duck to nest here fuU-winged. I have bred several 
drakes, but no ducks, between a Sheld-Drake and Wild- 
Duck female." 
[A Ruddy Sheld-Duck (Tador7ia casarca (Linnaeus)), shot 
in the Solway in the summer of 1888 and sent to William 
Hastings for preservation! was obtained at the mouth of the 
Nith and proved on examination to be a " clipped-wing " 
which had probably escaped from Auchencairn (Kirkcud- 
brightshire). The flocks of Ruddy Sheld-ducks, undoubted 
immigrants, seen on the Solway in June and July, 1892,J 
were recorded from the Cumberland side, and though some 
may have crossed over to our coast, I am not aware of 
any having done so. 
This bird is a native of northern Africa, and south- 
eastern Europe, extending across the elevated districts of 
Asia as far as Japan and China. It is often kept m 
collections of ornamental wild-fowl, and many records of 
its occurrence in Great Britain are regarded as due to 
escapes."] 
* Nat. Lib., 1843, Vol. XIV., p. 102. 
t Trans. D. and G. Nat. Hist. Soc, February 1st, 1889. 
% Man. Brit. Birds, 1899, p. 421. 
