TADORtfA. 427 



Genus TADORNA, Fleming, 1822. 



Bill short, high at the base, concave above, the tip flattened and 

 turned up, the nail small, abruptly turned down and inwards ; a 

 fleshy knob at the base of the bill in males ; nostrils less than one- 

 third the length of the bill from the base ; wings long, pointed : 

 tail rounded, of 14 feathers ; tarsus scutulate in front near the foot. 



Only two species are known of the genus as restricted ; of 

 these one, chiefly Pala3arctic, visits Northern India in winter, the 

 other is Australian. 



1587. Tadorna cornuta. The Sheldrake. 

 Anas tadorna, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 195 (1766). 

 Anas cornuta, S. G. Gmelin, Reis. Rnssl. ii, p. 185, pi. 19 (1774). 

 Tadorna vulpanser, Flem. Brit. An. p. 122 (1828) ; Blyth, Cat. 



p. 303; Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 794; Butler, S. F. v, pp. 217, 234;, 



Simsm, Ibis, 1882, p. 92. 

 Tadorna cornuta, Hume, S. F. i, p. 260 ; vii, p. 492 ; id. Cat. no. 956; 



Hume # Marsh. Game B. iii, p. 135, pi. ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 80; 



Eden, ibid. p. 164; M'Leod, ibid. p. 168 ; Forsyth, ibid. p. 169 j. 



Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 400 ; Salvador i, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 171. 

 Shdh-chaktca, Safaid-Surkhdb, Rararia, H. ; Niraji, Sind. 



Fig. 107. Bill of T. cornuta. . 



Coloration. Male. Head and neck deep glossy green ; a broad 

 white collar round the lower neck, followed by a broad band of 

 chestnut round the upper back and breast, in front of the wings , 

 interrupted partly or wholly in front by a dark brown or black 

 longitudinal band, which passes along the middle of the breast and 

 abdomen to the vent ; scapulars black, the inner partly white or 

 vermiculated with black and white ; primaries black ; secondaries 

 bright metallic green on the outer webs ; tertiaries chestnut on 

 outer webs, white inside, with a black stripe between the two 

 colours ; tail-feathers white, tipped with black ; middle and lower- 

 back, rump, upper tail-coverts, sides of lower breast, and abdomen 

 white ; lower tail-coverts dull rufous. 



Females are duller in tint. Young birds have dull dark brown 

 in place of black, and dull rufous brown for chestnut. 



Bill in adults blood-red ; irides brown ; legs fleshy-red inclining 

 to crimson (Jerdon). 



Length of male 24 ; tail 4-2 ; wing 13 ; tarsus 2-2 ; bill from 

 gape 2*3. Females are smaller, wing 12. 



