196 ANATIDJE. 



remarkable, adding in such an eminent degree to the pictu- 

 resque, whatever water they adorn with their presence. 



Beautiful as are the appearance of many birds, the eagle 

 by the hill-side, the heron by the mountain rivulet, or the 

 gannet plunging for his prey amidst the depths of the ocean, 

 yet the appearance of the tame swan, when 



" With arched neck 



Between her white wings, mantling proudly, 

 Rows her state with oary feet," 



is a sight at all times gaining the attention of the many. 



Obtained occasionally in the immediate vicinity of the 

 city, two instances occurred to our notice, one shot at a 

 small stream in the Phoenix Park, and another, in our own 

 collection, observed for some weeks frequenting the Bay 

 of Dublin, accompanied by four others, all, from their ex- 

 cessive wariness, admitting of no approach ; until one morn- 

 ing, when the present specimen was obtained near the island 

 of Clontarf, by T. Massey, Esq., of the Pigeon House Fort, 

 with a rifle-ball, shot from a punt, in the year 1829. 



In no instance at the present time found nidifying in 

 Ireland, that such was the case at a remote period there 

 is very little doubt ; as from an instance of an egg of the 

 hooper, presented to the author by an old ornithological 

 friend, who remarked its having been taken from a nest some 

 ninety years since, in the rushes of Portumna. 



Habitat Northern Europe. 



FAMILY XXXIV. ANATID^ (DUCKS). 



GENUS XCIY. TADORNA (SHELLDRAKE). 



SPECIES 188. THE RUDDY SHELLDRAKE. 

 Tadorna rutila. Pallas. 

 Canard kasarka. Temm. 



THIS species, rare as it is beautiful, has only occurred in a 

 single instance, obtained on the Murrough of Wicklow, in 

 the summer of 1847, and now preserved in the collection of 

 T. W Warren, Esq., of this city. 



Of great rarity in Western Europe, but three specimens 

 are recorded to have been obtained in England. Of its 

 habits in its own country little is known, except that it is be- 



