RUDDY SHELD-DUCK. 



T ADORN A CAS ARC A {Linn.). 



Auas casarca, Linn. S. N. iii. App. p. 224 (1768). 



Anas rutikj Naum. xi. p. 564. 



Tadorna casarca, Macg. v. p. 19; Yarr. ed. 4, iv. p. 347; 



Dresser, vi. p. 461. 

 Tadorna rutila, Hewitson, ii. p. 399. 



Le Tadorne, French ; Rost-Ente, German ; Pato Tarro, 

 Spanish. 



This handsome bird is a very rare straggler to our 

 country, and, although several of the records of its 

 occurrence no doubt refer to bond Jide travellers, so 

 many of this species have of late years been reared in 

 domestication in England, France, Belgium, and Hol- 

 land, that I am inclined to look with some suspicion 

 upon the more recent captures. We have reared several 

 Ruddy Sheld-Ducks at Lilford, and in one instance a 

 home-bred bird that had escaped the operation of 

 puiioning, roamed for miles up and down the valley of 

 the Nene for upwards of four years in perfect liberty, 

 generally returning to his native pond after a few days' 

 absence, owing his life in a great measure to the kind- 

 ness of my neighbours, and no doul)t to a considerable 



