TADOENA TADORNA 197 



TADORNA TADORNA (LinniEus). 

 COMMON SHELD-DUCK. 



Anas tadorna, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 195 (1766) ; Malherbe, Cat. Bais. 



d'Ois. Alg. p. 22 (1846). 

 Tadorna tadorna, Fleming, Phil, of Zool. ii, p. 260 (1822). 

 Tadorna cornuta, Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvii, p. 171 ; 



Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 296 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 103 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 



1895, p. 101 ; Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1900, p. 71. 

 Tadorna belonii, Lochc, E.vjn. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 367 (1867). 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from the Lake of Tunis. 



Head and upper neck veiy dark bottle-green ; lower neck pure white ; 

 mantle and a band round the breast bright orange-chestnut ; lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail-coverts pure white ; tail pure white, tipped with black ; 

 scapulars velvety-black, some of the inner feathers slightly pencilled with 

 grey and white ; primaries black ; outer secondaries rich metallic dark green 

 on their exterior webs and black on their inner webs, the bases of the 

 feathers white ; elongated inner secondaries rich dark chestnut on their outer 

 and white on their inner webs ; a broad brownish-black line extending from 

 the chestnut breast-band down the middle of the abdomen ; crissum 

 brownish -orange ; rest of the underparts pure white. 



Iris brown, bill and a large fleshy protuberance at its base deep coral- 

 red ; feet rosy flesh-colour. 



Total length 25 inches, wing 13'50, culmen 2-10, tarsus 2. 



Adult female rather smaller and duller in coloration than the male, and 

 without the knob at the base of the bill. 



The Common Sheld-Duck may frequently be met with in Tunisia 

 throughout the winter and spring months, and appears to be partially 

 resident in the Regency, as exatnples of it are said to be obtained 

 occasionally in summer and early autumn. According to Blanc it 

 breeds on the borders of the lakes near Bizerta and the Djebel 

 Eshkul. 



In Algeria the species is abundant on the larger lakes not far from 

 the sea-coast, and, as in Tunisia, is partially resident. Further west, 

 in Marocco, it is apparently less often met with, though, according to 

 Favier, it is to be observed irregularly between the months of 

 November and February. Throughout the greater portion of the 

 Italian Peninsula this Duck is of somewhat irregular appearance and 

 not common, though in some parts it is more abundant, and appears 

 to breed in Sardinia, and occasionally even on the mainland itself, 



