398 Correspondence



CORMORANT KILLING YOUNG DUCKS


For a number of years I have kept and bred a large quantity of different

varieties of Duck.


I had about 20 young ones in a wire enclosure below the sluice of my

larger pond, through which there flowed a small stream of water. Seven

ducklings were not quite half-grown, the others nearly full grown. On

Saturday evening, 26th August, at evening feed time all seven of the small

ones were lying dead, terribly mutilated, and all laid out in a row on the bank.


The culprit was observed at the far end of the pond and was luckily shot.

He proved to be a full-grown young male Black Cormorant.


I sent him up to the Zoo to make certain I was correct as to his species.

I should be interested to hear if a Black Cormorant has ever been shot so

far inland. I live four miles from Buckingham and the nearest point to

the sea is some sixty miles.


Also have any of the readers of the Avicultural Magazine known of a

case where Cormorants attack any form of bird life ?


G. Roberts.



FRIENDLY SHELD-DUCKLINGS


An interesting instance of young Sheld-ducks seeking human society is

recorded in the September number of British Birds. At 9.30 p.m. on 1st July,

1933, six baby Sheld-ducks appeared at the door of a hut on Scolt Head Island,

where Mr. and Mrs. Pelham were staying, and positively refused to leave.

Mr. Pelham writes : “ There was an old bird flying over the sea in wide

circles calling, so we took the ducklings down to the dunes, hoping that they

would be seen, but the parent, after flying wider, eventually disappeared.

Meanwhile, the ducklings had returned to the hut; as it was getting dusk

and cool, we made up a ‘ nest’ in a basket and put them in it.


“ The next morning early the ducklings were grouped round our bedroom

door. We gave them a bowl of water and a bowl of bread and milk, but they

made no attempt to drink until my wife had taken them up and held their

bills in the bread and milk, after which they cleared it up, and subsequently

fed eagerly on this, but practically ignored the water, even on a very hot day.


“ The ducklings now insisted on following us everywhere we went, even

if it was only to cross from one hut to another. If we remained inside they

settled down by the door and if left by themselves they started calling, but

stopped immediately when one of us came out. When we sat outside they

gathered round our feet and dozed or crawled under our legs for shelter from

the sun and even climbed up us if we were lying down.


“ By the next day it had become almost embarrassing to act thus as

foster parents as the ducklings insisted on following us, and as there was no

sign of the real parents we took them down to the marshes in the evening,

but even in the undergrowth here, where they could not possibly see us,

they made a bee-line for us from the edge of a creek for a distance of about

200 yards, so that we were forced to take them back to the hut again.


“ On the following day, 4th July, we left the hut to walk over to the

mainland at low water. Although we tried to drive them back, the ducklings



