GENUS I ADORNA. 



{Leach.) 



T1HE only known species in Australia of this very lovely bird approaches so closely to the Tadorna vulpanser 

 of Europe, that Gould traversed the decision of Reichenbach, who had bestowed on it the generic term of 



Had] <>li, and made it the antipodean representative of the Tadomas. 



TADORNA RAD J AH. (Gould.) 



BAD JAR SHI EL DRAKE. 



IN this link between the geese and ducks we have a very beautifully plumaged bird, only less handsome than 

 its near congener Casarca tadomoides. It is found in large flocks on all the lakes and swamps of North- 

 West Australia and Queensland ; it has the same habit as other members of the family of perching on 

 trees and nesting in the hollow boles and branches. As soon as the young are hatched they are carried to the 

 waters by their parents. 



The food during the summer is the root of a species of rush, but when the rainy season sets in and the 

 lakes are too full for the Shieldrakes to reach the roots, they spread themselves over the country, and may be 

 seen wading through the mangrove bushes and over the soft mud left by the falling tides, which swarms with 

 crabs and other Crustacea, that are most acceptable to the palate of these birds. 



The sexes are alike in size and plumage. 



Head, neck, wing-coverts, inner webs, and tips of the outer webs of secondaries, and all under surfaces, 

 pure white ; irregular collar across breast on to the back, rich deep chestnut, gradually passing into the dull 

 black of the scapularies, tertiaries, back, rump, and tail ; whole of wing-coverts, back, tail, and primaries finely 

 freckled with chestnut ; outer webs of secondaries metallic green, tips white, with a broad dull band of black 

 between ; primaries and spurious wing, black ; vent and under tail coverts, brown, freckled with white ; irides, 

 yellowish white ; bill and legs, reddish flesh-colour, darkest at the extremities ; some large specimens have a 

 bluish tinge. 



Habitats : Derby (North-West Australia), Port Darwin and Port Essington, Gulf of Carpentaria, 

 Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District. 



