NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTHALIAN BIRDS. 1055 



There is some doubt as to the number of eggs laid by the Musk 

 Duck. Gould, Riimsay, and otlifr authorities state that a pair usually 

 is laid. Both in Ea-steni aud Westeni Australia I have taken iiost-s 

 containing three eggs. Hushing tiic birds therefrom. Such excellent 

 field observers as Mr. A. E. Brent, the late Mr. Gilbert Bateman, 

 and Mr. William Bateman, assert that the maximum number of eggs 

 laid is five. I have recently received a letter from a Tasmanian cor- 

 respondent, who says : " I have found as many as five eggs in a Musk 

 Duck's nest, and t\vice I have found four." I feel confident that the 

 usual complement is not more than two or three eggs, and that the 

 sets of five found belong to annthor species of Duck, possibly the Blue- 

 billed — a bird that lays eggs like the Musk Duck's, but somewhat 

 smaller, or they may have been combination clutches. The bii'd, when 

 quitting her nest of her own accord, sometimes conceals the eggs by 

 covering them with down. 



The nest I observed in Western Australia, containing three eggs, 

 was situated in a melaleuca (tea tree) swamp in the heart of the forest. 

 It was about two feet above the water, concealed in long herbage at 

 the side of a stump. Date, 1st November, 1889. I learnt that it was 

 usual in Western Australia to find three eggs in the nest of the Musk 

 Duck. Tlie other triplet I found was on a thistle-covered bank by a 

 Murray swamp in Riverina. The nesting place was nan-owcr than that 

 of the ordinai-y Black Duck, and it was wai-mly lined with gi'ass and 

 down. Date, 2nd December. 1890. In the same distiict, a season or 

 two subsequently, Mr. G. H. Morton took two Mii^k Ducks' nests with 

 each tiiree eggs, and identified the parents. 



With regard to combination clutches, here is a curious illustration. 

 On the ,31st December, 1893, Mr. Morton flushed a Black Duck from 

 one Musk Duck's egg and seventeen Black Duck's eggs, while five 

 other eggs were scattered round the nest. All were fresh. Mr. Morton 

 hatched some of them under a domestic fowl. 



The breeding months for the Miisk Duck are July to December. 

 Some importance may be attached to the description of the nest- 

 down of Ducks as an aid to identification of the species should the 

 parent be absent from her eggs. I regret I have been unable to des- 

 cribe more than I have done. However, I hope some of ovu- collectors 

 will shortly furnish us with complete descriptions of the nest-downi 

 from all species of Australian Ducks' nests. 



My question in " The Australasia.n," 1897, " Can Musk Ducks fly?'' gave 

 rise to a considerable amoimt of correspondence fruitful of interesting 

 facts. I cannot do better than quote extracts from the evidence of 

 some of the observ'ers. Fii^st, there are those who have never seen 

 Musk Ducks fly. Mrs. Cornwall writes from Cudgegong, New South 

 Wales : " My experience of them is that they cannot. Wh^'ii they made 

 their first appearance in the backed-up waters of the Goulburn River 

 above the weir, a number of us went out in boats and chased them down 

 the river for sport; the Ducks would dive, and then would flap over 

 the surface of the water, in a pecuUar waddling manner. Not one of 

 them ever rose up. We got them down within 150 yards of the weir, 

 and the Ducks (there were about twenty of them) dived in all directions. 



