!\/ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAX BIRDS. 1035 



On the ISth September, wliile walking over a cotton-bush plain with 

 Ml'. Gabriel, in search of White-winged Wrens ( MahirusJ and Ycllow- 

 f routed Bush Chats (E ijlitliiaiiura), I Hushed a Duck from her cosy 

 nest on the gi'oiuid in the centre of a bush. The nest was some 

 distance from water, and contained eleven eggs. 



Eggs are always suirounded by down, plucked probably from the 

 Duck's owni breast. When she first lays there is no down, but as laying 

 proceeds a quantity appears, and when the clutch is completed there 

 is usually quite a thick, clastic circle of wann down about the eggs. 

 This down, which is a natural protection for the eggs when the parent 

 is absent from the nest, retains it-s warmth for a considerable time. 

 Of all Ducks' nests, excepting the Pink-eared Duck, probably that of 

 the Black Duck is the most amply provided with down. Nests are 

 often foimd by obsen'ing particles of down adheiing to holes in trees. 

 I believe the Duck is not assisted or relieved (unless it be at night) 

 by the Drake in the task of incubation. 



The question is frequently asked, How do Ducks that breed in trees 

 get their ducklings to the ground, seeing the young are removed to 

 water shortly after they are hatched? It is only common sense to 

 suppose that the young are conveyed in a very natural way, namely, 

 in the bill of the parent. Even aborigines tell you that. Unfortu- 

 nately, I have not been an eye-witness myself to the interesting 

 pert'omiance, but I can quote the statements of those who have. 



" Nemo, " in writing to " The Australasian " from South Gippsland, 

 on June 4th, 1894, says: "I notice some of your readei-s still seem to 

 cling to the idea that the Black Duck carries its young on its back 

 from the tree to the ground. This is an error. With all due deference 

 to those bushmen who have seen the Duck fly from the tree to the 

 water with its brood on its back, I must say that after years of close 

 obser%'ation of birds, game in particular (having at one stage of my 

 existence to depend upon that knowledge to an extent for my living), 

 I can assert without hesitation that the Duck simply drags its young 

 ones out of the hole in the tree, and flops down to the giound. can-ying 

 the Uttle ones singly in her biU. When all are down she walks with 

 them to water. If some of those old bushmen will think for a moment 

 that tlie nest of the Mountain and Black Duck (when in trees) is 

 usually at the bottom of some deep, hollow spout or Umb, up and down 

 the inside of which the Duck has to scramble like a 'possum, they must 

 see the absm-dity of the bii-d getting out with her flock of young on her 

 back. Both the Swan and Duck, when floating on the lagoons, may be 

 seen with their little ones perched on their backs. Hence, no doubt, 

 originated the idea that they were thus can-ied from the trees." 

 "Nemo" further states that from his observations the Ducks caixy their 

 yoimg from the trees always in the early morning. It is known, 

 however, that Ducks with their young travel overland at night, thus 

 enabling them to avoid hm-tful birds of prey. 



The late Mi-. Gilbert Bateman informed me that once, while out 

 shooting and waiting for Ducks, one appeared about fifty yards away 

 on the water, and called for her mate, which came; at the same 

 moment a yoimg one was seen. One of the biids flew away, and 



