NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 1049 



758. — Stictonetta n^vosa, Gould. — (587) 



FRECKLED DUCK. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. vii., pi. 10. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxvii., p. 324. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1883) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 340 (iSSg). 



Geoyrayhicul Uistributioii. — Queeiislaud (Elinders Kivcr, 1896) New 

 South Wales, \'ictoria, South aud West (as far ujj as the North-west 

 Cape) Australia, aud lasmaiiia. 



Xt.^t. — Similarly situated to those of most Ducks, in herbage upon 

 tlie ground. 



E(jys — Clutch, teu to twelve probably ; long ellipse in form ; texture 

 of shell compai-atively iiue ; siuiiu-e glossy or greasy to the touch ; coloiu", 

 light greenish-white. Mos't resemble those of the Black Duck. Dimen- 

 sions Ln iuclies : 2-5 x TGC ; of two specimens, according to the Catalogiie 

 of the Australian Museum : (1) 2-3 x 1-7, (2) 2-26 x 1-65. 



Observations.- — ^This veiy remarkable species of Duck would appear 

 to be partial to the southern portion of Australia. However, it has 

 been found in Queensland, and occasionally in Tasmania. Its plumage 

 is dark-brown, minutely and curiously freckled with white, the under 

 sui'facc being Hghter coloured. Some birds have a large patch of 

 rusty-brown on the chest. Eyes are light-brown, while bill and feel 

 are greenish-gi*ey. Shooters sometimes call the bird by the name of 

 the " Monkey " Duck. Why, I do not know. 



The eggs of the Freckled Duck are exceedingly rare in collections. 

 A single egg in my possession was taken in the neighbourhood of 

 WaiTnambool. Tliere is also a single specimen in the Macleayan col- 

 lection, Sydney, wlule the Catalogs© of the Australian Museum 

 (1889) records the finding of a nest on the margin of a swamp, in the 

 Western district of Victoria, containing seven eggs. The date given is 

 October, 1868. There is probably a typogi\iphical error in the date. 

 One hardly supposes that such an astute authority as the author of 

 the " Catalogue of Nests and Eggs " would leave a rare egg undescribed 

 so long. 



Freckled Ducks were more plentiful in the Melbourne markets 

 during the season 1896-7 than they had been for years. 



Acting on the suggestion of Professor Alfred Newton (Cambridge), 

 that if I should come across a male Freckled Duck, his ti-achea would 

 be worth looking to to ascertain whether it has the bony " labyrinth " 

 at the forking of the broncliial tubes, and if so, whether it differs and 

 in what way, from that of other Drakes, I secured some of the birds, 

 which Mr. Ed. Degen has been kind enough to examine. He states : 

 " The trachea belonging to a male bird shows that the bony labyrinth, 



