60 NESTS A\D EGGS OF THREE SPECIES OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS, 



l:>efore me measures from the tip of the bill to the end of the 

 longest tail feathers 9 "9 inches. 



3. Dendrocygna eytoni, Grould. 

 Ejrtou's Tree Duck. 



The range of Ej'^ton's Tree Duck extends throughout the Aus- 

 tralian colonies, but it is more sparingly distributed in the 

 southern portions of the continent. In Tasmania and New 

 Zealand it is only known as a very rare accidental visitor. After 

 an abundant rainfall it is unusually plentiful on the Barwon, 

 Warrego, and Macquarie Rivers in north-western New South 

 Wales, but it is seldom seen in diy seasons. It is exclusively a 

 fresh-water duck, and is generally met with in the shallow water 

 near the margins of swamps and rivers, except during the breeding 

 season, when it resorts to well grassed country some distance 

 from water. Living chiefly on a vegetable diet, which consists 

 principally of the tender buds of various aquatic plants, and 

 grasses, its flesh is much esteemed as an article of food, and for 

 delicacy of flavour is considered by some to surpass that of any 

 other duck inhabiting Australia. Although vernacularly called 

 Tree Ducks — but more commonly known as Whistling Ducks, 

 from their peculiar sibilant note uttered only while on the wing 

 — it is somewhat remarkable that the two species of Denclroci/gnn 

 found in Australia should both nest on the ground, while all 

 other members of this genus, with the exception of D. javanica, 

 of India, resort to hollow limbs of trees, or build nests of sticks, 

 if the deserted tenement of a crow, heron, or other bird is not 

 available. For an opportunity of examining and describing the 

 eggs of Ey ton's Tree Duck, I am indebted to an ardent sportsman 

 and oologist,' who found these birds breeding near that famous 

 resort of wild fowl, the Macquarie Marshes. While shooting at 

 Buckiinguy on the 2.3rd of September, 1893, in the long cane 

 grass, about one-third of a mile from an anabranch of the 

 Macquarie River, he flushed one of these birds, which he quickly 

 fired at, and it fell. As he mov^ed forward to pick it up, he 



