NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 1047 



as the case may be. The somewhat bioad bill is gi'eeiiish or bluish-grey, 

 eyes reddish-biown, and feet vai-iable in coloui- from green to. yellowish- 

 brown. The bird takes its common name from a singailar oblong mark 

 of rose-pink behind the eye. 



Mr. Price Fletcher remarked, that in Northern t^ueeu.'ilaud the 

 httlo Pink-eared Duck takes the place of the Teal. So it does in southern 

 parts on the tables of restam-ants, where it is always sold as Teal. 



Gould records, " No one of the tribe that 1 have obsei-ved in a state 

 of uatiu-'.' presents a more elegant and graceful appearance tlian this 

 little Duck, which is generally seen in small companies of from six to 

 twenty m niunber swimming over the placid lagoons, and betraying so 

 little fear and shyness on the approach of man as to present a singidar 

 contrast in this respect to^the other members of the family." 



Mr. Gregory Bateman, who loved the Boliemian life of a ti-apper 

 and sJiootin-, enjoyed exceptionally good opportimities of obseiVmg 

 Water Fowl, especially in Riverina. His obsei-vation regai-ding the 

 Pink-eared Duck was that it generally laid diu-iiig September or October, 

 or ;u-cording to the amoiiut of rain, depositing its egg's in the deserted 

 stick-nests of Ibises, Herons, &.O., winch old strvictures the Duck abim- 

 dantly lines with down. In fact, no other species of Duck's nest Mr. 

 Batemiin was acquainted with contained such an. abundance of down. 

 The eggs of this species kindly presented to me by Mr. Bateman were 

 taken from a set of nine, fomid in a White-fronted Heron's nest. 



Dr. Ramsiiy, who first published a description of this Duck's nidifi- 

 catiou in the P.L.S. of New South Wales (1882), states: — " For a mem- 

 ber of the Aiiatida, this bird certainly selects the most unique spots ima- 

 ginable in which to- make its nests. The firet instance was brought under 

 my notice by Mi\ K. H. Bennett, of Yandembah, a most enterpiising 

 natm'alist, to whom the Australian Museum is indebted for several rare 

 specimens. Mr. Bennett informs me that, having occasion to visit 

 a nest of the White-fronted Heron ( Ardea nuvce-hollandicB), he was 

 much surprised *o find it mucli altered in appearance, and from the mass 

 of down which covei'ed the whole of the ^upper pait of the Heron's nest 

 the Duck flew off, lea\ang two eggs, which, with the nest, have been 

 transmitted to the Museum. The eggs, unfortunately, were broken in 

 transit. This deficiency, however, is supplied by specimens taken by 

 Mr. Whittell, from a similar mass of dark, slate-grey down, which was 

 placed on a flattened portion of a thick horizontal bough, overhanging 

 the water, on the bank of the Darling River, near Wilcanuia. In tins 

 instance the eggs were six in number, of a rich light-cream colour, rather 

 pointed ovals. Length : (A) 1-85 x 1-3 inches, (B) 1-82 x 1-3 inches. 

 The beautiful stiiicture above-mentioned, sent by Mr. Bennett, con- 

 sisted of the platfonn of sticks which formed the nest of the Heron, 

 being thickly covered with down, which fonned a rim foau- inches in 

 height. A large quantity of down was worked in among the sticks, 

 and covered the gi'eater part of the sides ; it closed over the eggs above 

 in an elastic ma.ss, quite hiding them." 



There aa-e exhibited in the Australian Museum two interesting, 

 bulky bunches (one measiuing about ten or eleven inches across) of 

 hghtish-coloured down from the Pink-eared Ducks' nests, taken from the 



