212 
THE SHIELDRAKES. 
food "by reaching at it under the water, but seldom dive unless in sport 
or to elude their enemies. Their flesh is esteemed as food, and 
generally has a high flavour. 
By the author last quoted, the Anatince are aiTanged in 
four genera. 
SHIELDRAKE. 
The Ruddy Shieldrake {Tadorna Casarca), sometimes 
called the Iluddy, or Grey-headed Goose. 
The Burrow Shieldrake (T. Vulpanser), also kno^vn 
as the Bergander, the Skelgoose, Skeeling, or Sly Goose, 
Shieldrake, or Skeldrake, Stockannet, Burrow, or St. George's 
Duck. 
In these two we have the only British representatives 
of the genus Tadorna, the Shielducks, or Shieldrakes, as 
they are often called. They might almost as properly 
be termed Geese as Ducks, and authors differ as to the 
proper place for them in scientific classification. The 
male of the first of them is about twenty-three inches 
long. The head and upper part of the neck are pale grey, 
the latter tinged with yellow ; there is a narrow collar of 
greenish black ; the rest of the neck, and upper and lower 
parts of the bod}', are light yellowish red. The hind parts 
of the back are black, with a greenish gloss ; the wing 
coverts are white, with black and deep purplish green 
