ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 127 
Female.—Similar, but less bright: bill without knob. 
Young.—In first plumage, head and neck greyish-brown ; 
chin and front of neck white; wings brown, under surface 
white ; beak and legs flesh colour. 
Egg.—yYellowish-white; seven to twelve in number. 
May—June. Incubation, twenty-eight to thirty days. 
Nest Down.—Very small; delicate pale-grey, darker 
than Ruddy Sheldrake, mingled with a few short white feathers. 
RAJAH SHELDRAKE. 
(Zadorna rajah.) 
This remarkable bird is found in immense flocks in 
Australia as far south as Brisbane, and occurs, according to 
Mr. Diggles (the author of a work on the “Ornithology of 
Australia”), in various islands of the Malayan Archipelago. 
Its usual habitat is mud flats, and mangrove swamps, on the 
banks of tidal rivers, where it nests and perches on trees, and 
its food consists for the most part of small shell-fish, The 
flesh is coarse, and of an unpleasant flavour. There are 
specimens of this Sheldrake in the British Museum, but 
the delicate colour of the bill and legs is naturally wanting in 
the stuffed specimens. A few pairs of these beautiful birds 
were imported between 1909 and 1904, the prices obtainable 
varying from £12 to £20. 
Male.—Head, neck, upper portions of the wing, breast, 
and abdomen pure white; back and a band across the chest 
chestnut, marked with fine pencillings of black; tail black; 
wing feathers green, black, and white; tail feathers speckled 
with grey; bill pale flesh colour; feet salmon colour; eyes 
straw colour, nearly white. 
Female.—The same. 
