NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



1025 



times at tlie lieight of tliii-ty feet. When the yoiuig are hatclied, the 

 mother takes them in her bill, placing them one after another between 

 her shoulder and neck, and so descends to the gi-oiuid. If siu-prised, the 

 parents fly away, feigning lameness, itc, while the young hide. " I agree 

 with Mr. Lau when he states the Duek takes the young "in her bill" 

 in order to convey them to the ground ; but I hardly think it possible 

 for her to raiTy them " between her shoiildur and neck." Ms. Lau, I 

 feai-, has been duped into believing the plansiljlc bush yam that Ducks 

 carry their young on their back. They certainly do so sometimes, wlic^n 

 a family ai'e pla3-ing together in the water. 



Wood Ducks are amongst the earliest of breedei's. I'he yotuig arc 

 out and swimming when other Ducks are only laying. On oiu^ " Flood ' 

 trip, alread\' mentioned, we saw a brood on the Yalakool, 24tli Septem- 

 ber, 1894. The breeding time generally lasts from August to January, 

 but it is regulated by the state of the season in some parts, because 

 dm-ing the jom-ney of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Central Austra- 

 lia, 1894, the black-boys attached to the party caught several yoimg 

 Wood Ducks, on the 19th May, unable to fly. 



The young in down are dull-white underneath, and sooty-brown above, 

 with two stripes along the face. 



Sub-family — Anatin^. 



747. — Dendrocycna arcuata, Cuvier. — (591) 

 D. vagans, Eyton. 



WHISTLING DUCK. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of .Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 14. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvii., p. 153. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia (1848), 

 also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 375 (1865) ; North : Austn. Mus. 

 Cat., app. (1890). 



Geographical Di.Hrihutinn. — Australia in general ; also New Guinea, 

 New Caledonia, Fiji, Moluccas, Sumba., Timor, Java., Borneo, Celebes 

 and Philippines. 



Ne.H. — Composed of grass, &c., and placed upon the ground in rank 

 grass or other herbage, but possibly the eggs are sometimes placed in a 

 hollow treOj or even in a deserted stick-made nest of some other bird. 



Eggs. — Clutch, 10 to 12 usually, 1.5 maximum ; elliptical in 

 shape, but more or less swollen about the centre, and peculiarly pointed 

 at either end ; texture of shell fine ; sm-face glossy ; coloiu', a thin outer- 

 coating, creamy-buff or light stone, on being removed, reveals a liglit 

 creamy-white shell. Dimensions in inches of four examples ex a clutch 

 66 



