ANATIDE. 421 
; 
7 " _ 
THE RUDDY SHELD-DUCK. 
TADORNA CaSARCA (Linnzus). 
The Ruddy Sheld-Duck was first recorded as a British bird from 
a specimen now in the Newcastle Museum, killed near Blandford, 
Dorset, during the severe winter of 1776. The species was long 
ago introduced on many of our ornamental waters, and some birds 
shot in Norfolk, Northamptonshire and other places were either known 
or strongly suspected to have escaped from semi-captivity ; though 
there was less doubt about an example shot from a party of four in 
Romney Marsh, Kent, on September 8th 1884, as well as a few 
obtained in Scotland and Ireland. These, however, need not now 
be specified, for in 1892—a year of very severe drought in south- 
eastern and southern Europe—the Ruddy Sheld-Duck appeared in 
such numbers as to preclude any reasonable doubt of a genuine 
migration. According to the interesting record given by Mr. F. 
Menteith Ogilvie (Zool. 1892, pp. 392-398), not only single birds, 
but flocks of ro~15 and even 20 were observed in June and July in 
several parts of Ireland, the Solway district, and between Sutherland 
and Norfolk. A few others have subsequently occurred. 
This emigration in 1892 did not stop at the British Islands, for 
some wanderers actually found their way to Iceland and even to 
Greenland; while solitary examples have been recorded from 
Norway, Sweden, Bornholm in the Baltic, and Lake Ladoga ; but 
