BuLLER. — On New Zealand Birds. 87 



long disunited filaments, still adheres to the crown and other 

 portions of the upper surface, being most pronounced imme- 

 diately above the tail. The bill is slaty-brown (in the dried 

 specimen), the terminal points of both mandibles and the 

 serrated edges being dull-yellow. 



I have already, in writing of the Penguins, stated that I 

 consider the King Penguin (Aptcnodytcs longirostris) the most 

 gentle of the group. Among the Ducks, this distinction un- 

 doubtedly belongs to the Blue Duck. The following incident 

 is sufficient evidence of the fact : On the 13th October I was 

 shown by the men at the survey camp a nest of this species 

 in a hollow log lying about twenty yards from the stream at 

 Eikiorangi, some seven or eight miles up the Waikanae Eiver. 

 The duck was on the nest, v/hich was composed of soft down 

 torn from her own body, and there were four eggs, one having 

 been previously broken by the finder. On being captured, the 

 duck, although apparently much frightened, uttered no sound, 

 and made no attempt to escape. We brought her to Wel- 

 lington shut up in a canvas bag, and, on being taken there- 

 from some hours later, she sipped water from a drinking-cup 

 in the most unconcerned way. On being ^Dlaced in a cage 

 with her nest and eggs, she immediately claimed possession, 

 and continued to sit, with few interruptions, for several days. 

 But the eggs, which had been long incubated when taken, 

 must have got chilled in transmission, for the duck, having 

 apparently discovered that they were lifeless, first turned one 

 out and then abandoned the nest. I do not know of anv 

 species of wild duck that, under similar circumstances, would 

 have resumed, even for a time, the work of incubation. Had 

 the duck been left undisturbed she would have hatched out 

 her young in about a week or ten days. Some clutches, 

 however, are earlier, for in the stream near which this 

 nest was discovered a pair of Blue Duck had been disport- 

 ing with five young ones for more than a week before our 

 arrival. 



The young of the first year has much less chestnut on the 

 breast than the adult bird, all the true pectoral and surround- 

 ing feathers having only a minute spot of rufous with a point 

 of black beyond, giving a speckled appearance to that part of 

 the body ; the head is washed with brown, and so is the 

 mantle ; the irides are dark-brown instead of being golden- 

 yellow ; and the bill is bluish-grey instead of white. 



The eggs vary slightly in size, but 2'3in. in length by 

 l-5in. in breadth may be taken as a fair measurement. They 

 are of a beautiful ovoido-elliptical shape ; and, on being washed, 

 the surface presents a delicate pale cream-colour, the green 

 tinge referred to in "The Birds of New Zealand" (vol. ii., 

 p. 278) being apparently due to soiling by contact with the 



