THE RUDDY SHELD-DUCK. 



Tadorna casarca (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 46. 



This species is a rather rare visitant to the British Islands, and was first 

 recorded in 1776, when a specimen was killed near Blandford, Dorsetshire. On 

 the Continent of Europe it favours the south-eastern parts more than the western, 

 nesting, it is said, in some numbers on the Lower Danube, while a few breed in 

 southern Spain. It inhabits North Africa, and has a wide range over Asia. In 

 India, where it is plentiful, it is known as the " Brahminy Duck." 



The Ruddy Sheld-Duck nests underground in various situations. The late 

 Mr. Salvin and Canon Tristram found it breeding in crevices among cliffs, while 

 such sites as burrows, hollow trees, and even the old nests of birds of prey are 

 also chosen. Mr. E. H. Wilson {A Naturalist in Western China) says, " I 

 once found a couple breeding in the margin of an alpine lake near Tachienlu, 

 at 15,500 feet altitude." The eggs, varying in number from eight or nine to 

 sixteen, are creamy-white in colour. 



It has a loud uncouth cry, repeated several times, which has been syllabled 

 as Kark. 



The food consists of various aquatic insects, molluscs, grass, &c. 

 Unlike the Common Sheld-Duck, this species prefers inland lakes and rivers 

 to the sea coast. 



The female resembles the male in colour, but is without the narrow black collar. 



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