SOUTH AFRICAN SHELDRAKE 



CASARCA CANA (Gmeltn) 

 (Plate 17) 



Synonymy 

 Anas cana Gmelin, Linne's Systema Naturae, ed. 13, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 510, 1788. 

 Casarca cana Blyth, Journ. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 17, p. 254, 1848. 

 Tadorna cana Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, p. 190. 



Vernaculab Names 

 English: German: 



South African Shelduck or Graukopfige Fuchsgans 



Sheldrake Boers . 



Gray-headed Duck Berg-eend 



White-fronted Sheldrake 



French: 



Oie sauvage a tete grise 

 Casarka du Cap de Bonne 

 Esperance 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Head and neck ash-eolored; a dark rufous collar around neck; lower part of the neck 

 and breast fulvous, changing into cinnamon-color on the upper back, scapulars, and underparts; 

 the lower abdomen almost chestnut; under tail-coverts bright fulvous; back and scapulars vermicu- 

 lated with black; lower back blackish, with pale vermieulations; upper tail-coverts and tail, black; 

 lower flanks blackish, with fulvous vermieulations; upper and under wing-coverts white; primaries, 

 bastard wing, and primary coverts, black; secondaries glossy green on the outer web, forming a 

 speculum; inner secondaries cinnamon on the outer web, dark gray on the inner; greater under 

 wing-coverts blackish. 



Iris pale yellow (Stark and Sclater, 1906); beak and feet black (Salvadori, 1895). 



Wing 381 mm.; bill 51; tarsus 61. 



Note: The adult male closely resembles the male of Casarca ferruginea except for the light ashy- 

 blue color of the head. 



Adult Female: Similar to the male, from which, however, it differs in having the anterior part of 

 the head, sides of the head above the ear-coverts, and the throat white. Size somewhat smaller 

 (Salvadori). A specimen in the New York Zoological Park has the iris black, culmen blue-black, the 

 legs and feet dirty gray. 



Wing 330 mm.; bill 44; tarsus 47. 



Young Male: Paler and duller than the adult bird; the head and upper part of the neck dull gray- 

 ish brown. 



