COMMON SHELDEAKE 53 



Commorv Sheldrake. 



Tadorna cornuta. Shah-Chakwa, Hindustani. 



Tlie real original or typical sheldrake, a well-known sea- 

 coast bird at home, and the only surface-feeding duck which is 

 a sea-bird anywhere, is a rather rare winter bird only in India, 

 being only at all common in Sind, where it is called Niruji, and 

 not going far south anywhere, though it ranges east to Upper 

 Burma. The Hindustani names of Safaid Surkhab and Chandi 

 Hans, however, which are in use as well as that given above, 

 show that the natives know the bird well, and it is one that once 

 seen is never forgotten — its predominant white colour, indicated 

 by its native names, and set off by a black head and wing-tips, 

 chestnut breast-band joining on the shoulders, and scarlet bill, 

 are quite unique and unmistakable. Even the yearlings, in 

 which there is no chestnut tint, and whose beaks are merely 

 flesh-colour like the feet, are quite unlike any other duck. In 

 size this bird is a little less than the ruddy sheldrake or Brahminy 

 duck, being about as large as the mallard or spotted-bill, though 

 much higher on the legs. 



It walks and runs well and gracefully like its ruddy relative, 

 and also swims high in the stern ; the male floats particularly 

 high in the water and looks decidedly bigger than the female, 

 but there is practically no difference in plumage, although the 

 drake's is richer in its hues. He has, however, a knob at the 

 base of the bill in the breeding-season, and some trace of this is 

 always visible in fully adult birds. 



The note differs greatly in the two sexes in this sheldrake, 

 being in the male a low whistle, while the female's is loud and 

 harsh, something between a quack and a bark. Though perhaps 

 more often seen ashore than afloat, this duck is more of a 

 water bird than the Brahminy, and can at a pinch dive well and 

 go some distance under water. It is wary and hard to shoot, 

 and as food it is one of the very worst of ducks, and indeed is 

 not usually regarded as eatable. It feeds chiefly on small animal 

 life, especially minute shell-fish, but also eats grass. All across 

 the Old World it is a well-known bird in the north by the sea 



