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 this 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 monotonous
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.