134 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
WHITE-FRONTED SHELDRAKE, OR GREY-HEADED 
DUCK. 
(Casarca cana. Tadorna cana). 
This rare bird, sometimes erroneously termed the ‘‘ White- 
headed Goose,” is the South African form of the Ruddy 
Sheldrake, and resembles that bird with the head and neck 
paler, approaching to white. Only one specimen has as yet 
been possessed by the Zoological Society, which was the duck 
purchased at the sale of the Knowsley Collection in 1851, and 
died in 1862 presumably at the age of fifteen years, having 
been imported in 1849. The White-fronted Sheldrake inhabits 
Southern Africa, where it is called by the Boers and Cape 
Colonists “ Berg-Ente,” and is stated to be of sufficiently rare 
occurrence, appearing at odd times in different places. “Three 
specimens,” writes Mr. Ayres, “were killed by my brother on 
a lagoon in the Free State, but birds of this species also occur 
on this side the Vaal, where I have seen them, but have never 
been able to get at them.” Mr. E. Simons, writing to the 
“This,” 1887, states that this Sheldrake is not plentiful in the 
Orange River Colony, appearing to nest on the ground at some 
distance from water, often being captured when quite young by 
the Boers, ‘who cut their wings, and keep them tame about the 
house.” We are told it breeds among rocks, and like the 
Dendrocycna, conveys its young down to the water between the 
thighs. Our only information upon this bird is collected by 
Dr. Sclater in the P.Z.S., 1864, a short notice by Messrs, 
Layard and Sharpe in their “Birds of South Africa,” and in 
Stark and Slater’s “Fauna of South Africa.” It is to be 
hoped that those amateurs who have any correspondence with 
the Cape Colony will endeavour to procure some examples 
of this interesting species. 
The following description is taken from a stuffed specimen 
