452 



back, rump, and upper tail-coverts white ; tail white, tipped with black ; scapulars rich velvety black ; 

 primary quills black ; short secondaries on the outer web rich bottle-green, and on the inner web black ; 

 the long inner secondaries chestnut-red on the outer and white on the inner web, with a stripe of black 

 along the outer side of the shaft ; underparts below the breast white, except the under tail-coverts, 

 which are orange-red ; a broad stripe of black all along the centre of the body, widening on the lower 

 abdomen ; bill red, a large fleshy knob on the base of the upper mandible also red ; legs fleshy pink ; 

 iris reddish brown. Total length about 19 inches, culmen 2*25, wing 13-0, tail 5"2, tarsus 2'05. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male, but is rather smaller and duller in colour. 



Young. Before the first moult the young bird differs not a little from the adult ; the forehead, cheeks, fore 

 part of the neck and entire underparts are white ; crown, nape, and hind neck blackish brown ; wing- 

 coverts tipped with deep grey; feathers of the speculum tipped with white; bill and legs pale flesh-red. 



Young in down (Hitteren, Norway, 25th June) . Covered with close rather short down ; crown, nape, and a 

 stripe down to the back dark brown, with an olivaceous tinge; fore part of the back a broad stripe 

 along the centre of the back to the tail, and a broad irregular cross band on the lower back deep brown 

 like the head ; rest of the plumage white ; forehead and space to the eye also white. 



Obs. Some authors state that the present species assumes, like many others of the Ducks, a regular summer 

 dress which is only retained for a short time ; and Meves, a most excellent observer, insists on this 

 being the case, and he gives (6fv. K. Vet. Ak. Forh. 1867, p. 287) a most careful description of this 

 stage of plumage, which I translate as follows : — "A male, shot on the 19th July, had the bill and the 

 lump on it brick-red, the latter smaller than in the spring; legs pale red; the green feathers on the 

 head and neck paler in colour, and about a third shorter than in the spring; the feathers of the 

 reddish brown band over the shoulders and on the sides of the breast edged with black, and having a 

 whitish margin at the tip, the remainder vermiculated with four or five rows of dots ; on the breast the 

 colour is darker, and runs into the blackish brown band along the belly, this band becoming paler until 

 it vanishes near the crissum; under tail-coverts pale rust-yellow below, and above white with black 

 tips ; the black bands on the shoulders duller and narrower ; the quills and rectrices had not been cast. 

 The bill in the female was still paler ; the band across the upper part of the back blackish grey, finely 

 vermiculated, towards the breast becoming greyish mixed with brown, palest on the middle of the 

 breast ; belly white ; under tail-coverts tinged with rusty yellow." 



On the other hand, Baron von Droste Hiilshoff writes (Vog. Borkurns, pp. 272, 273) as follows : — " I must 

 deny the statement made by Mr. Meves to the effect that this Duck assumes a regular summer plumage. 

 When fresh moulted the plumage is certainly duller on account of the grey edgings to the feathers, and 

 the colours intensify as these margins wear off; but I cannot find any difference sufficient to call this a 

 distinct stage of plumage/' 



Found throughout Europe in suitable localities, the common or Burrow-Sheldrake ranges south 

 into North Africa, and eastward across the continent of Asia to China and Japan. 



In Great Britain it is resident, and breeds from the southern counties of England up to the 

 north of Scotland, but is scarce in the south of England during the nesting-season. Mr. A. G. 

 More states (Ibis, 1865, p. 442) that it is said to be extinct in Dorset, Kent, and Suffolk, but 

 still breeds in North Devon, Somerset, and Norfolk, in the last of which counties it is described 

 as decreasing. According to Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, however, it still breeds on the shores and 

 islands of Poole Harbour, but not so numerously as formerly. 



