70 



TADORNA. SHIELDRAKE. 



Generic Character. 



Rostrum basi tirberculo ele- 

 vato armatum, medio de- 

 pressum, apice latum; 

 mandibula superiore ad 

 apicem lateratim sulcatS, 

 apice subrecurvatft. 



Caput plumis tectum. 

 Alee simplices. 



Beak armed with an elevated 

 tubercle at its base, de- 

 pressed in the middle, 

 broad at the tip ; the upper 

 mandible laterally grooved 

 near the tip, which is .some- 

 what turned upwards. 



Head clothed with feathers. 



Wings simple. 



TADORNA. Leach MSS., Fleming. 

 ANAS. Linn., Grnel., Lath., &c. 



OHIELDRAKES have a small elevated tubercle 

 at the base of the beak, which is flattened towards the 

 middle and broad at the tip, where a slight recurva- 

 tion takes place : they may be distinguished from the 

 Musk-ducks, which also possess a tuberculated ap- 

 pendage, by having the head entirely clothed with 

 feathers* There appear to be but few species hitherto 

 discovered whose habits, as far as known, are similar : 

 they nidificate in deserted rabbit-burrows, or holes in 

 the ground. 



