360 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Genus TADORNA, Leach. 



The Australian Shieldrake does not, that I can perceive, 

 diifer sufficiently from the T. mdpanser of Europe to warrant 

 its generic separation ; I have not, therefore, adopted Reichen- 

 bach's generic term of Badjah for this very delicately coloured 

 bird. 



Sp. 583. TADORNA RADJAH. 



Radjah Shieldrake. 



Anas radjah, Garnot, Voy. de la Coquille, p. 602. — Atlas to ditto, pi. 49. 



leucomelas, Garnot (Bonap.). 



Tadorna radjah, Eyton, Mon. of the Anat., p. 106. 

 Radja eytoni, Reich. (Bonap.). 

 White Duck, Residents at Port Essington. 

 Co-m'er-do, Aborigines of Port Essington. 



Tadorna radjah, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. vii. pi. 8. 



This beautiful Shieldrake is found in numerous flocks on 

 all the lakes and swamps of the northern and eastern portions 

 of Australia; like the other members of the genus, it fre- 

 quently perches on trees and resorts to the hollow branches 

 and boles for the purpose of breeding, the young being 

 removed to the water by their parents immediately after they 

 are hatched. When the rainy season has set in, and the 

 water of the lakes has become too deep for them to reach the 

 roots of a species of rush upon which they feed, they scatter 

 over the face of the country, and are then to be seen wading 

 through the mangrove bushes and over the soft mud left by 

 the receding tide, the surface of which affords an abundant 

 supply of food, consisting of crabs, mollusks, and other marine 

 animals. The sexes present no visible diflPerence in their 

 colour or markings, nor is there a sufficient difference in size 

 to distinguish the male from the female. 



Head, neck, breast, abdomen, flanks, wing-coverts, inner 



