Plate 36. Cassell's Book of Birds

CASARCA RUTILA ____ RUDDY SHIELDRAKE

(about 1/3 Nat. size)

[[See larger version]]

THE SHELDRAKE (Vulpanser ladorna). ONE-FOURTH NATURAL SIZE.

THE RUDDY SHELDRAKE, OR BRAHMINY DUCK.

The RUDDY SHELDRAKE, or BRAHMINY DUCK (Casarca rutila), represents a group possessing slender bodies, moderate-sized wings, and somewhat remarkably coloured plumage, which differs but little in the sexes. In this species the body is almost entirely of a bright rust-red; the cheek is yellowish white; the neck reddish yellow; the wing is decorated with a glossy green patch, and has its covers of a pure white; the margins of the wings, upper tail-covers, quills, and tail, are glossy greenish black. During the breeding season the male has a clearly-defined band of greenish black on the lower throat; the female rarely exhibits this collar, and is smaller than her mate; her entire plumage is also less brightly coloured, and her face of a whitish shade; the eye is light brown; the beak black; and the foot lead-grey. This species is from twenty-four inches to twenty-five inches long and forty-four inches broad; the wing measures sixteen inches, and the tail seven inches. The Ruddy Sheldrakes inhabit Central Asia, and from thence spread in an easterly direction to the Upper Amoor, and westwards as far as Morocco. In the course of their wanderings they are pretty regular visitants to Greece and South Italy. As winter guests they are well known throughout the Indian Peninsula, and are by no means uncommon upon the lakes of Egypt. In Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco they are abundant, but do not apparently extend their range into the interior of Africa. The gait of this beautiful bird is light and elegant; it does not waddle as most Ducks do, but steps out like a Goose;[Pg 146] it is an excellent swimmer, and upon an emergency dives with facility. Its flight is strong and enduring, and its voice loud, but by no means unpleasing. Its food consists principally of vegetable materials; Jerdon, indeed, says he has been told that it will sometimes eat carrion, but adds that he has never seen it so employed, though he has often observed it feeding in fields of corn. Until the approach of the breeding season the Brahminy Ducks live very peaceably in company with other swimming birds, but about that time they become very pugnacious and quarrelsome. Towards the end of April or the beginning of May the different pairs retire to their appropriate nesting-places, which are generally in holes in the ground. In North-west Africa, Calvin found one of their nests in the cleft of a perpendicular rock, which had likewise been the nesting-place of Robins, Kites, and Vultures. In Siberia they not unfrequently build in the holes of Siberian marmots, and occasionally in hollow trees. The nest, which is composed of dry grass and lined with down, usually contains from four to six roundish thin-shelled eggs, of a glossy white or yellowish white. As soon as the young brood are sufficiently dry after their escape from the shell they leap from the nest and make their way to the nearest pond, where, under the careful superintendence of their parents, they pass the earlier part of their lives. At first they are clad in a suit of down, which is brownish grey upon the upper part of the body with the exception of a whitish spot upon the breast; the lower surface is of a dirty white. Pallas states that in Mongolia these birds are regarded as sacred.