RUDDY SHELDRAKE 241 



kites, vultures and ravens, but this too is explained rather by similarity of habits, 

 and ability to protect themselves, than by any predilection for other species. 



Voice. The notes of these birds are loud, incessantly uttered, and, while easily 

 imitated, are exceedingly difficult to suggest in writing. The trachea of the male has 

 a very small bony -walled bulb, about the size of a pea (Finn, 1900). In general the 

 note of both sexes has been described by such a variety of syllables, that it seems 

 almost useless to repeat them all. The note is bisyllabic, and sounds to me like a 

 crow's, but more nasal, — in other words a harsh nasal kaa-a. Pallas described its 

 voice when on the wing as being like a clarionet, and at other times, especially in 

 captivity, like that of a peacock, while other writers have symbolized it by the 

 syllables a-oung or ung. Almost all observers have failed to distinguish the notes of 

 the two sexes, but A. E. Brehrn (1879) noticed that the male's notes are pitched 

 higher than those of the female, while Heinroth (1911) has given a full account of 

 the differences. According to him the notes of the male are based on the sound 0, 

 while those of the female are based on the sound A. The male's most characteristic 

 note is a drawn-out, howling, rolling chorr, the warning note being a drawn-out ho 

 while ho-ho expresses anger. The alarm note of the female is ha, while anger is ex- 

 pressed by a sound resembling rarr, short and oft-repeated. The call-note of this 

 sex is ha-a, very nasal and loud, and varying greatly. He adds that the male does 

 not attain the characteristic chorr note until at least two years of age. 



Food. This species is omnivorous, and is not dependent on any particular class 

 of food. It grazes where young grass is available and where crops are accessible, but 

 it is able to subsist on animal diet of a varied kind. In India it has been found 

 gleaning fallen rice in the settlements at night (Ball, Stray Feathers, vol. 2, p. 437, 

 1874), and in general feeds on young grass and corn, various kinds of water-weeds 

 and seeds, but predominantly on tiny fish-fry, shrimps, and all kinds of small land- 

 and water-shells (Hume and Marshall, 1879). In northeast Africa it feeds on grass- 

 sprouts and water-plants, fishes, frogs, worms and snails (von Heuglin, 1873). The 

 diet in Tunis and in southeastern Europe does not seem to be essentially different, 

 judging from the information available from Whitaker (1905) and Seebohm (1885). 

 Specimens shot in the Crimea as they were returning inland from the sea had empty 

 crops, indicating that the birds do not obtain nourishment on the coasts. Its habit 

 of feeding in the opium fields in Yunnan has already been mentioned (H. R. Davies, 

 1909). In Shensi it was also found frequenting the opium fields (Sharpe, Compt. 

 Rend. 3 e Congr. Ornith. Intern., Paris, p. 176, 1901). There is also a tradition in 

 India that it occasionally takes offal, or may even feed on corpses, which, though 

 perhaps only rarely true, has left an impression on European minds which is not 

 easily overcome. My friend Captain E. H. Penticost, who was many years ago in 



