184 THE COMMON SHELD-DRAKE 
THE COMMON SHELD-DRAKE 
TADORNA CORNUTA 
Head, throat, and upper back black, with green reflections; lower parts 
of the neck and back, flanks, rump and tail (except the black tip) white ; 
from the shoulders a broad band of bright chestnut, which meets on the 
breast, passing into a broad, blotched, black band, which passes down the 
abdomen nearly to the tail; under tail-coverts pale reddish yellow ; 
scapulars black ; wing-coverts white; secondaries chestnut; primaries 
black ; speculum bronzed green and purple; bill, and protuberance at 
the base, red; irides brown; feet crimson-red. The female wants the 
red protuberance on the bill, and the colours generally are somewhat 
less bright. Length twenty to twenty-two inches. Eggs white, tinged 
with green. 
THE Sheld-drake is the largest and among the handsomest of the 
British Ducks, and if easy of domestication would be no doubt a 
common ornament of our lakes and rivers. It is, however, in 
Great Britain at least, a marine bird; though from one of its 
French names, Canard des Alpes, it would seem also to frequent 
the large continental lakes. Numerous attempts have been made 
to familiarize it with inland fresh-water haunts to which some other 
species readily take, but they have rarely succeeded, while to 
induce it to breed at a distance from its seaside home has proved 
yet more difficult. 
It differs from the majority of the Duck tribe in remaining on 
the coast of Britain throughout the year. In South Wales, for 
example, it is seen in winter and early spring, but about the breed- 
ing season it disappears for a few weeks. During this interval it 
is employed in incubation, but when its brood is hatched it is seen 
again, accompanied by a troop of ducklings, feeding in the creeks 
and marshy places. When thus discovered, the young broods 
are commonly hunted down by seaside idlers for the sake of being 
sold to any one who cares to try the experiment of rearing them. 
On the coast of Norfolk it is more usual to search for the nests, 
in order to secure the eggs and place them under a tame Duck or 
domestic Hen. The male and female keep together, not only 
during incubation, but until the young are able to provide for them- 
selves. It derives the name ‘Burrow Duck’, by which it is also 
known, from its custom of making its nest either in the burrow 
of a rabbit or in a hole hollowed out by itself. The nest is con- 
structed of such herbage as abounds in the neighbourhood; it is 
lined with down plucked from the breast of the parent bird, and 
contains from ten to twelve eggs. 
Pennant (vol. ii, p. 257) says of these birds: “ They inhabit 
the sea-coasts and breed in rabbit-holes. When a person attempts 
to take their young, the old birds show great address in diverting 
his attention from the brood; they will fly along the ground as if 
