SHELDRAKE.
This remarkably handsome species, the Anas cornuta of S. G. Gmelin, and the Tadorna cornuta of most modern naturalists, is a resident on such parts of the British coasts as are suited to its needs. Unfortunately, continued persecution has driven this beautiful Duck from many a haunt along the coast, and it is now almost entirely confined during the breeding season to the more secluded districts, or to such places where man may accord it some measure of protection. Low sandy coasts, and extensive dunes by the sea, are the favourite resort of the Sheldrake; and, owing to its secretive habits and exceptional wariness, it is a species that may be very easily overlooked. During the breeding season, an observer may wander for hours up and down the haunts of this Duck without seeing a single bird. Once seen, however, it is easily identified—no other bird along the coast more readily. The harlequin arrangement of the colours is more eccentric, perhaps, than beautiful. The bill, to begin with, is crimson; the head and upper neck are dark metallic-green; the lower neck is white, and below this is a broad band of bay or chestnut; the rump, upper tail coverts, and tail (except the tip, which is black), part of the secondaries and innermost scapulars, the wing coverts, the sides of the belly and the flanks, are white; the remainder of the wings and outermost scapulars, and a broad line from the breast to the vent are black; the alar speculum is green; the tarsus and feet are pink. At a distance the bird looks like a patchwork arrangement of black, white, and red, which becomes even more pronounced when it takes flight, and in a slow, Heron-like way, with measured beats of the wings, passes out to sea, or down the coast to more secluded haunts. During the breeding season, this Duck frequents the sand dunes on the English coast, but is rare and local in the south; in Scotland it is commoner, and may be met with in almost all places suited to its requirements, including the Hebrides. In Ireland, however, it becomes local and uncommon, although widely dispersed. When the young are reared the bird becomes more widely distributed, but even then its preference for the sand makes it still local. The Sheldrake is known by many provincial names, among which may be mentioned “Burrow Duck,” “Bergander,” and “Shell-duck.” The origin of this Duck’s colloquial name is somewhat obscure, although Willughby and Ray attribute it to the bird’s strongly-contrasted plumage—“sheld” being the East Anglian equivalent for parti-coloured.[5] The Old Norse name for this Duck was skjöldungr, from skjöldr, a piebald horse. The Sheldrake is certainly a social bird, but can scarcely be termed a gregarious one. Small parties may be seen feeding in the shallows or swimming in the sea. The bird obtains its food either whilst wandering along the shore—its gait is more elegant than that of most Ducks, owing to the comparatively longer legs—or when swimming in water just deep enough for it to reach the sandy bottom, when the fore part of the body is submerged, and the hind quarters held almost perpendicular. This food consists chiefly of sand-hoppers, crustaceans, molluscs, and small fish; but on shore the bird also eats grass, stems and leaves of aquatic plants, and worms. The Sheldrake rarely wanders far from the sea, its visits to the land seldom extending beyond the dunes or the rough saltings. The note of this Duck is a harsh quack, but in the pairing season an oft-repeated tremulous cry is uttered, and when the young are abroad a guttural kurr is heard.
The breeding season of the Sheldrake begins in April or May. Although instances of this bird breeding some distance from the coast are on record (Stevenson’s Birds of Norfolk), its ordinary nesting-places are never far from the sea. Its favourite breeding-grounds are sand dunes, links, flat sand-banks, and small islands in sea lochs, firths, or estuaries. The bird is not very social at this period, and although many pairs may occupy a comparatively small area of coast, each seems to keep closely to its own particular domain. The nest is made at the end of a burrow, a rabbit hole being frequently selected; but sometimes the bird is said to excavate one for itself, in which case it follows a nearly circular direction. Sometimes the nest is ten or fifteen feet from the entrance, and in places where rabbits are numerous, it is often an almost hopeless task to discover it, one burrow running into another in bewildering perplexity. At the end of the burrow a rude nest of dry grass is formed—a rabbit’s nest is not unfrequently utilised—which, as incubation advances, is thickly lined with down from the parent’s body. Few nests are more difficult to find; sometimes the parents will betray its whereabouts when one bird relieves the other; but, as a rule, the male is seldom seen near it, and both sexes are remarkably cautious in leaving or visiting it. The eggs are usually from six to twelve, but as many as sixteen have been known. They are creamy-white in colour, smooth and polished in texture. The down in the nest of the Sheldrake is a beautiful lavender-gray. The young are soon taken to the beach after they are hatched, where the little creatures are remarkably active in catching sand-hoppers.