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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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SHEL'DRAKE, n. An aquatic fowl of the duck kind, the Anas tadorna. It has a greenish black head, and its body is variegated with white.
Any one of
several species of large Old World ducks of the genus Tadorna
and allied genera, especially the European and Asiatic species. (T.
cornuta, or tadorna), which somewhat resembles a goose in form and
habit, but breeds in burrows.
* It has the head and neck greenish black, the breast, sides, and forward part of the back brown, the shoulders and middle of belly black, the speculum green, and the bill and frontal bright red. Called also shelduck, shellduck, sheldfowl, skeelduck, bergander, burrow duck, and links goose. * The Australian sheldrake (Tadorna radja) has the head, neck, breast, flanks, and wing coverts white, the upper part of the back and a band on the breast deep chestnut, and the back and tail black. The chestnut sheldrake of Australia (Casarca tadornoides) is varied with black and chestnut, and has a dark green head and neck. The ruddy sheldrake, or Braminy duck (C. rutila), and the white-winged sheldrake (C. leucoptera), are related Asiatic species. Any one of the American
mergansers.
* The name is also loosely applied to other ducks, as the canvasback, and the shoveler. | ||||||||