A SHELD DUCK (T ADORN A T ADORNA L.) FROM 
ESSEX COUNTY, MASS.* 
An example of the Common Sheld Duck, a female, was 
killed Oct. 5, 1921, by Capt. Howard H. Tobey of Gloucester, 
in Ipswich Bay off Annisquam, not far from the mouth of 
the Essex River. Through the kind efforts of Mr. Carl E. 
Grant, game warden at Gloucester, the specimen was 
secured for the Peabody Museum of Salem, and identified 
by State Ornithologist Forbush, who has reported its occur¬ 
rence to the “Auk.” It has been mounted by J. W. Good- 
ridge of South Hamilton and now adds interest to the Essex 
County collection of the Peabody Museum. 
The bird was described as being extremely wild, and its 
plumage showed no signs of the wear-and-tear or soilure 
indicative of captivity, so that this specimen can properly 
be regarded as a wanderer from the Old World. 
The Sheld Duck is recorded as a resident in the British 
Isles, common and generally distributed in suitable locali¬ 
ties and especially numerous on the east coast of Scotland. 
It ranges east over Europe and Asia as far as Japan, breeding 
as far north as Norway and 70 degrees latitude in the Ural 
Mountains, and southward to France and Spain. In the 
interior of Europe, along the Mediterranean basin and in 
North Africa, it is a winter visitor, as also in India, South 
China, and Formosa. Occasionally it visits the Faeros and 
Iceland. 
As will be seen by the photograph, the usual conspicuous 
chestnut collar is nearly wanting in this specimen, being 
very narrow, faint, and disappearing ventrally. Nor is 
there a vestige of the customary median dusky stripe on the 
under-parts. A good colored plate of the adult male and 
female may be found in Bonhote’s Birds of Britain. 
Albert P. Morse. 
* We have been unable to find any previous record of the occurance of this species in 
North America. Ed. 
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