I0i;6 NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



and so got past our boats into the back waters. Often and often have 

 we tried to make Musk Ducks fly by shooting at tliem, &c., but never 

 once succeeded." 



" Teal " (Ballarat) writes : " Musk Ducks can no more be said to 

 actually fly than, say, flying-fish. Tliey simply skim the surface of the 

 water, flappmg their \vings, wlicn disturbed." 



Mr. John G. Gray, Kentucky, New South Wales, writes : " I quite 

 agree with Mr. Campbell regarding the disinclination to fly the Musk 

 Duck shows. I have 'been shooting Ducks in Riverina, near Corowa, 

 on the MuiTay, for more than thirty years, and cannot remember 

 having ever seen one on the wing. Here tliey only frequent the deep 

 waters of dams on the creeks, and depend for safety on their diving 

 powers, which are extraordinary." 



" C. M'L." (Wonga Lake) writes : " Having read all the correspon- 

 dence in ' The Australasian ' rr the Musk Duck, I thought I would tell 

 you my experience of it. I do not think that they can fly, for I have 

 met them travelling on foot from one lake to another, and I have nm 

 them down ; so I am sure if they could Gy they would not attempt to 

 walk over the heavy sandhills that are to be met between the different 

 lakes about these parts." 



" H.O.," writing from Kongwak, via Jumbvmna, says : " I, as an 

 old bushman, was of opinion tliat they (Musk Ducks) could ; otherwise, 

 it seemed to me unaccountable how they could suddenly amvc at 

 swamps, &c., up country, newly-filled or filling by the first rains. From 

 wliat I saw a few days ago, I am now inclined to think that they 

 cannot fly. I was walking to a neighbour's, when there straddled and 

 fluttered in ungainly fashion acro.ss the main road a female Musk Duck 

 —I at fii'st thought wounded or fluttering from a. nest. But when she 

 gained the drain at the side of the road slie shot up and down it in 

 a tremendoits fuss at my approach. After some trouble I caught her, 

 and had my fingers viciously snapped. All the time I was examining 

 her legs and wings she had fast liold of my coat. I fomid nothing the 

 matter with either legs or wings. On letting her go, I flimg her a little 

 in the air, thinking she might fly with a ' fair start,' but she only plumped 

 into the drain without making an effort to fly. She ha<:l evidently come 

 across a marshy paddock, and was making for the river, about one 

 hundred yards distant." 



On the other hand there are those persons who have seen Musk 

 Ducks fly. 



Mr. W. H. Ford, F.G.S., whom I know to be a reliable field observer, 

 writing from Moolort, Victoria, after stating that on one occasion, when 

 on the Aird River, Cape Otway, ho forced a Musk Duck to flight, about 

 .300 yards, says: " In the winter of 1S93 T had a party down at AUflna 

 Bay Estate, and my brother, out after game one night at a swamp on 

 Cherry's property, shot a Musk Duck flying into the swamp from the 

 bay. He thought it was a Black Duck imtil shot, and then could not 

 believe it was only a Musk till brought to hght at camp. These are 

 the only two instances I know of Musk Ducks flpng." 



Dr. H. Breton writes ; " My experience is they (Musk Ducks) can 

 fly, although they seldom resort to this mode of progi'cssion. I am 



