226 TADORNA RADJAH 



Perching. Radjah Sheldrakes have frequently been seen walking about on the 

 river banks, or perched on horizontal branches of low trees near the water (Gould, 

 1865; Ogilvie-Grant, 1915). 



Association with other Species. Keartland (North, 1898) mentions seeing 

 single birds in the company of flocks of Black Ducks (Anas superciliosa), or Teal 

 (Anas gibberifrons) . 



Voice. The notes of the two sexes are different, as in Tadorna tadorna, but the 

 voice is hoarser, while the whistle of the male is less clear, and the quacking of the 

 female is less distinct than in the Common Sheldrake (Heinroth, 1911). 



Food. In the stomachs of various specimens the following food has been found: 

 grass seeds, shell-fish and grit (Mathews, 1910); crustaceans (Broadbent, 1910); 

 snails (Meyer, 1884); and fresh-water mollusks (Madarasz, 1894). Gould (1865) 

 says, "When the rainy season has set in, and the water of the lakes has become too 

 deep for them to reach the roots of a species of rush, upon which they feed, they scat- 

 ter over the face of the country, and are then to be seen wading through the man- 

 grove bushes, and over the soft mud left by the receding tide, the surface of which 

 affords an abundant supply of food, consisting of crabs, mollusks and other marine 

 animals." 



Courtship and Nesting. Nothing is known of the courtship or display in this 

 species. In Australia the breeding season falls in the months of December and Janu- 

 ary in North Queensland (Ramsay, 1875); while in northern Australia it probably 

 begins after the rainy season sets in, in February and March (North, 1913). In the 

 Keartland Collection there is an egg from the Daly River, North Territory, taken 

 on April 6 (North, 1913), while in northwestern Australia clutches were taken at 

 Port Darwin on February 2, 4 and 6, on April 24, and on May 1 and 21 (D. Le Souef, 

 1902). On the Island of Halmahera young in down (now in the Ley den Museum) 

 were taken by Bernstein on November 24. 



The nest is usually, but not invariably, placed in a hollow tree (D. Le Souef, 1902). 

 All the nests described by North (1913), Keartland (North, 1898) and Ramsay 

 (1877) were in hollow trees or hollow limbs near the water. Keartland tells of a pair 

 which nested in a tree close to where people passed, and which, toward the end of the 

 incubation period, became so tame that the female would not leave the nest. Ac- 

 cording to D. Le Souef (1902) the number of eggs in a clutch varies from four to eleven. 

 They are creamy white in color, and slightly glossy, measuring from 57 to 61.5 mm. 

 in length by 39 to 43 mm. in breadth. The incubation period is not known, but 

 is probably close to thirty days. 



