370 Mr. G. R. Gray on the Soft-billed Duck of Latham. 



and Branta ; the former of which is the only one of that sub- 

 family that has the apical margins of the bill soft and some- 

 what flexible. The Australian soft-billed duck is the type of 

 the genus Malacorhynchus as established by Mr. Swainson in 

 1831. In 1832 Wagler used the same generic name, being 

 unacquainted with the fact that it had been previously em- 

 ployed : he seems to consider the New Zealand bird as the 

 type, but mentioned the Australian one as the second species. 

 This leaves us to conclude that Mr. Swainson's genus Ma- 

 lacorhynchus must, by the law of priority, be retained for the 

 Australian Anas membranacea, while a new generic name 

 should be proposed for the New Zealand Anas malacorhynchus, 

 Capt.Cook in his 'Voyage* mentions this bird as a "blue-gray 

 duck, or whistling-duck as some called them, from the whist- 

 ling noise they make;" and Forster in his c Voyage' states, that 

 " its bill had a remarkable membranaceous substance at the 

 extremity on both sides, probably because the bird is intended 

 to live by sucking the worms, &c. in the mud, when the tide 

 retires from the beach." On the drawing is written (as if 

 called so by the natives) the word heweego ; where is also re- 

 presented](and of which he speaks in his e Voyage') a narrow 

 white band across each wing that is not found in the specimen 

 before me. 



Hymenolaimus. Bill as long as the head, equally com- 

 pressed, elevated at the base, with the culmen for three-fourths 

 of its length straight, and then slightly curved to the tip ; the 

 sides from the culmen shelving to the lateral margins, of which 

 the basal half is firm and furnished with lengthened slender 

 laminae: the apical half of the margin composed of a soft flexible 

 skin that hangs over the lower mandible, widening towards 

 the tip, where it is somewhat truncate and the nail not very 

 prominent ; nostrils situated near the middle of the bill and 

 oval. Wings short, slender, with the first, second and third 

 quills equal and longest, and the shoulder armed with a short 

 blunt spur. Tail lengthened and composed of broad feathers 

 with the ends rather rounded. Tarsi nearly as long as the 

 middle toe exclusive of claw, fore-toes strong and fully webbed, 

 and the hind toe moderate and strongly lobed. 



H. malacorhynchus (Gm.), n. Brownish blue ; the feathers 

 more or less margined with glossy green, especially on the 

 head and back ; the breast varied with large spots of light 

 chestnut ; the secondaries (some tipped with white) with their 

 outer edges margined narrowly with velvety black. Bill white, 

 with the nail and the soft part black. Legs brown and web 

 black. 



