474 Anatidce. 



185. COMMON SHELLDRAKE (Tadorna vulpanser). 



As this fine species may be said to stand at the head of the 

 Ducks, it will be well to observe that there are two distinct 

 groups of these birds which entirely differ from each other in 

 habits. These are the surface feeding, or ' true Ducks,' and 

 the diving, or ' Oceanic ' Ducks. Of the surface feeders, with 

 the exception of sundry very rare and accidental visitors, all the 

 British species, eight in number, have been found in Wiltshire. 

 They generally frequent fresh- water lakes, rivers, marshes, and quiet 

 pools ; have great powers of flight ; never dive for their food, and, 

 in short, are almost as much at home out of the water as in it ; in 

 all which respects they differ entirely from the Oceanic ducks. 

 First of them comes the Common Shelldrake, so conspicuous for its 

 bright coloured plumage, and so attractive for its general appear- 

 ance. It is by no means uncommon on the coast, and occasionally 

 a straggler has appeared in our county. The Rev. F. Goddard, 

 at that time Vicar of Alderton, informed me that a specimen was 

 killed in that neighbourhood about the year 1856 or 1857 ; and 

 the Rev. A. P. Morres records the capture of another, on the 

 river near Britford, by the keeper, some years since. Lord Lans- 

 downe has seen it on the lake at Bowood, and Mr. Grant had 

 a specimen brought him for preservation in September, 1868, 

 which had been taken at Overton. Some say it is called the 

 * Shelldrake-' from the partiality it evinces for the smaller shell- 

 fish which constitute the principal part of its food ; others say, 

 from its tortoiseshell colour; or because it has a lump at the 

 base of the bill like a shell ; but others, with more probability, 

 from sheld, signifying ' pied,' flecked,' or ' parti-coloured,' and 

 certainly a plumage which exhibits such marked contrasts of 

 colour as green, chestnut, white, and black, deserves to attract 

 special notice. The generic name, tadorna, is pronounced to be of 

 Italian origin, but derivation and meaning unknown ; the 

 specific, vulpanser, ' fox duck,' either from its dark-red, fox colour 

 or from its habit of breeding in a hole. The specific name now 

 often bestowed on it of cornuta, 'horned,' from cornu, has 



