346 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



is migratory, and there can be little doubt that the accidental wanderers to the 

 extreme west of Europe are from this district. In Asia it breeds throughout 

 Persia, Turkestan, and South Siberia, as far north as Lake Baikal and the valley 

 of the Amoor. It possibly breeds in Japan, and is a regular summer visitor to 

 Mongolia, but to China, Burrnah, and India it is known as a migrant in autumn 

 and winter only. 



Allied forms. Casarca cana, an inhabitant of South Africa as far north 

 as what is to be hoped will soon be the British Colonies of the Transvaal, and 

 the Orange Free State. It differs from the Buddy Sheldrake in having the head 

 and neck ash grey. More distantly allied species are C. tadornoides, of Western 

 and Southern Australia, including Tasmania, and C. variegata, of New Zealand. 



Habits. The range of the Ruddy Sheldrake in Europe does not extend 

 sufficiently far north to render the bird a migratory one, but in Asia, where the 

 climate is much colder in winter, and where the limits of its distribution extend 

 slightly higher, this Duck is a bird of regular passage. Hume states that it 

 winters in India in countless myriads. It begins to arrive in Cashmere and on 

 the southern slopes of the Himalayas at the end of September, which agrees with 

 the date of its departure from South Siberia about the middle of September. By 

 the end of October it is generally dispersed over Northern India, and during 

 November it reaches the southern districts. It leaves the south towards the end 

 of March, the north a little later, and reaches its breeding grounds in Siberia 

 again towards the end of April. The Buddy Sheldrake migrates in enormous 

 flocks, but these soon separate, and distribute themselves in scattered pairs 

 throughout the country. In spring it again unites into flocks, and is then more 

 frequently seen on lakes than at any other time of its stay in India. These 

 gatherings disperse at the breeding grounds. The Buddy Sheldrake is a fresh- 

 water Duck, and a shore bird rather than a water one, spending most of its time 

 on or near the bank. In India its favourite haunts are the broad rivers where 

 sandbanks break the stream into numerous channels, but the bird occasionally 

 visits fields and flooded grounds at some distance from its usual retreats. It not 

 only swims well, but often dives when wounded, and on the ground walks with a 

 rather graceful, sedate step in a very erect manner. The flight of this species is 

 easy and quick when once the bird is fairly on the wing, but it rises in a laboured 

 manner and with apparent difficulty. The wings are flapped slowly rather than 

 beaten rapidly. The food of the Buddy Sheldrake consists of both animal and 

 vegetable substances, the former, according to Hume, predominating. Of the 

 vegetable element may be mentioned grass and sprouting corn, especially when 

 growing near the edge of the water, water weeds of various kinds, and seeds ; of 

 animal substances, insects, the fry of fish, shrimps, small frogs, and all kinds of 

 land and fresh-water snails. It has been said that this Sheldrake occasionally 



