Volume 40, Plate II / Ornithology (Birds)

Common Sheildrake

Tadorna Belonii

One of the most beautiful and clean-looking ducks, marked with clear white, reddish orange, and black, the head and neck glossy blackish green and a chestnut band crossing the breast. A maritime shore species seldom seen inland, it breeds in rock crevices and rabbit burrows along low sandy coasts, conducts its young to the sea, ranges to the north of Scotland and Orkney, and keeps well in confinement where it has water.