I0^2 A'ESrS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



to end of Febniaiy. Of course it is a close season for their eggs also, 

 and I maj' here explain with regard to the nests taken by myself, I liad 

 the necessary authority in writing from the Administrators of the Game 

 Act in Victoria and in New South Wales to collect eggs purely in the 

 interests of research. 



754. — QuERQUEDULA ciEciA, Linnseus. 

 BLUE-WINGED OR GARGANEY TEAL. 



Figure. — Gould ; Birds of Great Britain, vol. v., pi. 17. 

 Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvii., p. 21)3. 

 Previous Descriftioiis of Eggs. — Various. 



GriH/rapliical Dktrilutiiiii. — Victoria (accidental), Austro-Malayan 

 region, Africa, breeding in Europe and Asia. 



Nest. — A mere depression in the ground in a meadow, or a grassy 

 mound in a morass, u.sually near water (Butler). 



Egys. — Clutch, eight to twelve usually ; buff colour. Dimensions 

 in inches; 1-75 x 1-25 (Gould). 



Obnervations. — Concerning the beauty and elegance of the nuptial 

 dress of the male of this little Duck, Goidd enthusiastically writes : 

 " The beautiful pencillings of its flanks, the lengthened and pointed fonn 

 of its scapularies, the delicacy of its grey tints, the cresccntic edging.^ 

 of the feathers of its breast and the conspicuous white superciliary mark, 

 contrasted with the darker colouiing of the surrounding parts, render 

 it second to none of the Anatidm." 



When the male tlirows off his handsome dress he assumes the more 

 sombre garb of the female. 



A pair of these birds was exhibited by me at tlie Field Naturalists' 

 Club of Victoria, March, 1889. They were kindly lonned by JVlr. 



Wm. Shaw, of Geelong, and were shot out of a flock of Australian 

 Teal at Lake Connewarre, Victoria, in March or April, 1896. Tlie 

 shooter who obtained them was of opinion that there wei-o more of 

 the strange species among the birds that got away. Previously the 

 Gargancy Teal had not been recorded nearer Australia tlinn the 

 Malayan Islands. It is hardly likely that these bii'ds had escaped from 

 confinement, which, by the way, they easily reconcile themselves to. 



It is worthy of remark re the male being in nuptial dress about April, 

 that this month coiTesponds with tlie commencement of spring in 

 the northern latitudes, where the birds should have been, instead of 

 probably having lost their track and proceeded southward. 



The Garganey is an animated and sportive creature, witli a cry 

 sounding like " ki'ec-krcc." 



