128 ANSERIFORMES 



CHAP. 



black and orange feet respectively, South and East Africa; A. 

 specularis, Chili and Patagonia ; and A. cristata, with a pendent 

 nuchal crest, America from Peru southwards. 



Tadorna cornuta, the Sheld-Drake or Bargander, which ranges 

 from Britain across Europe and temperate Asia to Japan, and 

 migrates to the Mediterranean basin, North India, and South 

 China, has the bill and the basal knob wanting in the female 

 red, the feet pink, the head glossy green ; it shews a white collar 

 on the lower neck followed by a broad chestnut band ; blackish 

 outer scapulars, remiges, and tip of the tail ; a patch of chestnut on 



FIG. 34. Sheld-Drake. Tadorna cornuta. x y. 



the inner secondaries, a green speculum, and a brown line down the 

 under parts, the remaining portions being white. This bird fre- 

 quents sandy coasts and muddy flats throughout the year, nesting 

 in burrows, or rarely among rocks, masonry, or bushes, and laying- 

 some ten shiny white eggs. The flight is powerful and heavy ; the 

 note is a shrill whistle or barking quack ; the food consists of 

 aquatic plants, molluscs, and insects. T. radjah, of Australia, 

 Papuasia, and the Moluccas, is white in both sexes, with blackish 

 scapulars, back, rump, primaries, and rectrices ; the mantle is 

 vermiculated with chestnut, the similarly-coloured pectoral band 

 is barred with black, the speculum is green with black posterior 

 margin, the bill and feet are whitish. It breeds commonly in 



