RUDDY SHELDRAKE 245 



When confined they are hardy birds, and very easy to keep, though they are 

 quarrelsome, which necessitates the separation of the males in the breeding season. 

 A pair which I kept for five or six years, and which I finally disposed of in as good a 

 condition as when I received them, used to inhabit a pasture where many species of 

 the larger cranes and geese were confined, but they never came to any harm. In the 

 Berlin Gardens they have frequently bred, and free-flying specimens are successfully 

 kept. They have also bred repeatedly in the London Gardens, and may be classed 

 as one of the more ready breeders in captivity, perhaps ranking close to the Egyptian 

 Goose in this respect. 



During the mating period the most noteworthy characteristic of the bird's psychol- 

 ogy is seen in the female urging the male to pick fights with other males, and even 

 with strange species, while she selects her own mate. What she really does is to 

 hound on and worry the male by rushing at strangers and pretending to attack them. 

 The stranger runs away if he is weaker, but if he is stronger he stands his ground and 

 the female returns to her prospective mate. The male still stands with head high, 

 but the female goads him on until at last he is induced to fight. If he shows no in- 

 clination to fight she will even pluck at his breast. She seems to show a real prefer- 

 ence for the most pugnacious males, and therefore is partial to the males of the Black 

 Sheldrake {Casarca variegata) . The males seem to have nothing to do with the choice 

 of mates, and are quiet and peaceful, so that if the females are removed they make no 

 effort to fight. Once paired, the females cannot bear the sight of any other swimming 

 bird, and in captivity they will attack all other ducks, geese, swans, dogs, and even 

 children (Heinroth, 1911; Floericke, 1898). Heinroth (1911) tells a very amusing 

 story of a full-winged female who conceived such a dislike for him that she would 

 fly at him, screaming and almost brushing his face as she circled around him. 



In the Paris Gardens this Sheldrake bred regularly. A wooden box was placed on 

 the bank of a stream, and about the beginning of April a little pile of reeds or hay 

 was placed inside. During the latter part of April the female laid her clutch and 

 pulled the down from her breast. When she began to sit, the male, who up to that 

 time had not paid much attention to her, began to keep a strict guard, and drove 

 away all intruders. The hatching took place in thirty-two to thirty-four days, 

 according to the temperature (Huet, Le Naturaliste, vol. 12, p. 107, 1890). 



In confinement the Ruddy Sheldrake crosses readily with other species. Lever- 

 kukn (1890) enumerates the following hybrids, with the proper authorities: 



$ Tadorna tadorna X 0. Casarca ferruginea 

 (J Casarca ferruginea X <j> Alopochen segyptiacus 

 ^ Casarca ferruginea X O. Anas boschas. 



In the British Museum there is a hybrid between Casarca ferruginea and Casarca 

 cana, raised in the London Gardens. Heinroth (1911) thinks that hybrids of 

 Casarca ferruginea and Casarca variegata, which were raised at Berlin, are fertile. 



