CASARCA ■ R U T IL A .
CASARCA RUTILA.
Ruddy Sheldrake.
Ana» ruiila, Pall. Nov. Comm. Petrop., tom. xiv. p. 679, tab. 22. fig. 1.
- ctutrrca, Gmel. edit. Linn. S.yst. Nat., tom. i. p. 511.
Tadorna rviila, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563.
Vulpanser nttiia. Keys, und Bias. Wirbeltli. Eur., p. 84.
Tadorna casarca, Mac gill. Man. of Nat. Hist., Orn., vol. ii. p. 163.
Casarca ritlih. Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Ear. and N. Aincr., p. 56.
F rom the circumstance o f the trivial name of this species being “ Ruddy Sheldrake" it would naturally be
supposed that it is closely allied to the bird figured in the preceding plate, Tadorna eulpanser and to
a certain ex teat it is ; but, as every ornithologist is aware, the two birds have bee» generically separated. The
Common Sheldrake is one of the most ornamental of our water-fowl, graceful in it* actions, beautiful in its
markings, and domestic in disposition—'traits which render it an especial favourite ; the Ruddy Sheldrake,
on thé other band, although a finely coloured bird, and by no means devoid of beauty, is more Anserine or
Goose-like in it» actions and economy, and is more adapted for the land than the water, on which element it
is less graceful wçé buoyant ; its bill and legs, too, are coarse and black— instead of being richly coloured,
like those of tm fw tm m o n Sheldrake.
The Casarat n a ih% unlike the Tadorna vulpanser (which is indigenous to our islands), is merely a visitor,
and one of the raws*! birds so classified in our lists, its occurrences here being few and at periods far apart.
The first British ^peciteen is said to have been killed as long ago as 1776, and to still form a part of the collection
at Ncvtt*rtkvoa-Tyne. The late Mr. Fox, of Durham, appears to have been the first to uotice it as
British, from the example above alluded to, which previously belonged to Marmaduke Tunstal, and which
was believed to have been shot at Brywnstone, near Blandford, in Dorsetshire. Yarrell states that two other
specimens have since been killed—one in the south of England, now in the collection o f the late Mr. Selby, -
and the other in January 1834, at Iken, near Orford, on the coast of Suffolk, which passed into the possession
o f Mr. Manning, of Woodbridge. Thompson, in his ‘ Natural History of Ireland,’ states that an example of
this spécics was shot “ on the Mwrottgh o f Wicklow, by Mr. John More ton o f that town, on the 7th o f July,
1847. The Murrough is an «««ns-ive low sandy tract bordering the sea, such as is resorted to by the
Common Sheldrake ( 7 T. wipanser) for the purpose of breeding. “ On the next day,” adds Thompson, “ the
specimen came into the possession of T. W. Warren, Esq. Its plumage indicates a male, nearly adult.”
Besides the above, the Rev. F. O. Morris speaks o f another as having been obtained on Sanday Island, one o f
- the Orkneys, by Mr. Strang, in October 1831.
The range o f the Ruddy Sheldrake over the surface of the globe appears to be almost as extensive as that
o f the Common Sheldrake ; for it is found in most of the warmer parts of Europe and, I believe, the whole
o f Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Mediterranean, and, like most other species which frequent
the latter part of that continent, Palestine, the Holy Land, Asia Minor, and Persia; it is also one o f the
commonest species of Ducks m the peninsula of India, in Thibet, China, Formosa, and Japan. The justly
celebrated Russian naturalist, Pallas, states that it does not extend beyond 50° N . lat., and that in Mongolia,
where it breeds in Marinol-holes and hollow trees, it is held sacred by the Mongols and Calmucivs.
Dr. Hooker observed it breeding in the rocks o f the Himalayas, and Dr. Adams in Sikkim and Ladakh. The
following extracts will show that the bird has many habits in common with the Sheldrake, particularly that
o f breeding in boles ; like that species, too, it is said to be almost unfit for human food
Mr. W. H. Simpson, in bis ‘ Fortnight on the Dobrudscha,’ says, “ The earth-diffs about Kustendjé ” (the
eastern terminus o f the Danube and Black-Sea Railway) “ are much resorted to by bird, for breeding, from the
facility with which thev are perforated. The Roddy Shelduck breeds in these places, and also in the holes
o f Trajan's Wall, and in other holes up the country. Though the bird is plentiful, it is by no means easy to
obtain the eggs. I and my friend spent the greater part of the day in driving a tunnel into a bank where
one had been seen to come out. But our labour was in vain ; for, after advancing several yards, working one
at a time prostrate and in the dark, the original hole was found to fork off into two branches. The natives
sometimes obtain a sitting, and the young ones are brought up for domestic purposes.'Wfa, 1S6I p dSo
Hundreds o f these birds,” says the Rev. H. B. Tristram, in lus 'Notes on the Ornithology o f North
Africa' “ resort to the salt lakes of Bou Gnizoun, Waregia, Tuggurt, Ac. At Boil Gurzoun I captured
some half-dozen nestlings of various ages in the downy state, some o f them scarcely more than a da, old ;
and yet the only place where they could possibly have bred, and where we had procured a nest three days