SHIELDRAKE.
HWYADYR EITHIN. HWYAD FRAITH, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH.
COMMON SHIELDRAKE. SHELDRAKE. SHE LLO RAKE. SKELLDRAKE.
BURROW DUCK. SKELGOOSE. SKEELING GOOSE.
Tadorna Brflonii, STEPHENS.
" vulpanser, FLEMING.
Anas tadorna, LINNAEUS. PENNANT.
Tadorna— ? Bellonii—Of Bcllon.
THE Shieldrake is a bird of very wide dispersion. In Europe it is
known in Sweden, where it breeds; also in Iceland, Norway, Germany,
Italy, Spain, France, and Holland. Tn Asia, its range extends from
Kamtschatka and the southern parts of Siberia to Persia, Tartary,
China, and Japan. Bewick mentions that Captain Cook has noticed
them at Van Diomen's Land, and that they have been seen in great
numbers on the Falkland Islands.
This species is strictly a maritime one, though it has sometimes
occurred inland; but such instances form the 'exception, not the rule.5
I t has been shot in Northamptonshire, the Hon. T. L. Powys has
written me word, and he also mentions two killed near Oxford. In
Cambridgeshire it used to he not uncommon. In Yorkshire, it has
occurred near Doncaster, also near York, Driffield, and Thirsk, one
namely at Gormire, but rarely; frequently on the high moors above
Huddersfield. Several have been found near Sutton-on-Derwcnt, where
they have appeared in small flocks. They used to breed on t he banks
of the Humber. In Nottinghamshire, near Retford. In Northumberland,
they build on the coast, where there is sand above high-water mark.
I n Lincolnshire, the Rev. R. P. Alington informs me that the
Shieldrake occurs on the sea-coast, near Summercoats, and breeds in
a rabbit-warren on the sandhills of the sea-bank in that parish, likewise
at Humberstone. In Norfolk, at Sandringham, the seat of J.