WHOOPEE SWAN 235 



is of frequent occurrence in the British Islands in severe winters, 

 but is not a regular visitant. It is a third smaller than the vs^hooper, 

 which it resembles in figure and habits. 



Common Sheldrake. 

 Tadorna cornuta. 



Fig. 78. — Sheldrake. ^ natural size. 



Beak and basal knob bright red ; head and upper neck dark 

 glossy green, followed by a white collar, below which is a chestnut 

 band ; wing-coverts white ; speculum green ; scapulars, part of the 

 secondaries, and the primaries black ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and 

 tail-feathers white, the latter tipped with black ; lower, central line 

 of the breast and belly dark brown, the rest of the imder parts 

 white ; legs and feet pink. Length, twenty-six inches. The female 

 is without the knob at the base of the biU, and her colours are not 

 so bright. 



The sheldrakes, or sheld-ducks, are curious and interesting birds, 

 and form a connecting-link between the geese and ducks ; but they 

 are more like the former than the latter, and sh eld-gander, or sheld- 



