NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BINDS. 10157 



satisfied that when hiintod and firod at they never fly, but dive, and 

 woidd never be hit unless taken off their guard. I liave had repeated 

 shots at tliem on the billabongs, in New South Wales, ineffectually, as 

 their very keen siglit enables them to dive out of reach instantor on the 

 csplo-ion of a gun. Only once did I meet with sticcess. I bon-owed a 

 gun from a patient of mine and sauntered along the banks of the River 

 Mcrri, about four miles from Warrnainbool, towards Woolastou, when 

 suddenly I saw a Duck come fl}'ing round an elbow of the river, on the 

 opposite side. I fired and bagged, as I thought, a Black Duck, but 

 which, to my great disappointment, turned out to be a Musk Duck. 

 No doubt they fly for a spurt occasionallv, bvit never when shot at, 

 as their immunity is assured them by diving. They are every bit as 

 quick as the Diver in avoiding shot." 



Mr. J. Cannody, writing from Urana, New South Wales, states : 

 " Two years ago I was at Colombo Ci'eck. and saw four Ducks fly down 

 on the water just in front of me. I fired and killed two. Congi-atu- 

 lating myself on having secured two Black Ducks, I drew them out of 

 the water, and was greatly surprised to find they were Musk Ducks, as, 

 up to then, I had shared in the belief that these birds do not fly. They 

 were flying strongly when I first observed them, and appeared to have 

 come from some distance down the creek." 



" S. J.," writing from Adelaide Club, South Australia, says: " When 

 on a visit to Point Lowly lighthouse some few years since, I was shown 

 by one of the keepers the skin of a male bird which, he informed me, 

 had flown against and broken the glass around the lantern. This bird 

 must have been flying at a good height, and swiftly, to break such vei-y 

 thick glass." 



Mr. Benjamin Culley recollects, in 1853, shooting a Musk Duck 

 flj'ing by night in Hobson's Bay. " Since then," he adds, " I have been 

 very familiar with the Musk Duck, both on the Murray lagoons and on 

 the dams in Riverina, and although I have shot one now and again 

 by error as it fluttered from the high banks of the river into the water, 

 I could onh' say that the effort to fly was the effect of surprise ; 

 therefore, I take it to mean that its power to do so may be always 

 present, but that its natirre is to fly either in the dark or moonlight. 

 I may say that the one referred to above flew with short and rapid 

 flaps, similar to a Magpie, when returning to roost at evening. With 

 us were Messrs. David Goodsir and Heniy Gale, both well known in 

 Melbourne afterwards." 



I have purposely kept " T.A.G.'s ' (Yandilla, Queensland) communi- 

 cation to the last, because it appears to contain the solution of the 

 problem, namely, that Musk Ducks do not or rarely fly by day, but 

 do so occasionally by night. " I have only once seen one fly in day- 

 light here, and he flew past me and alighted within twenty yards of 

 me, and there was no doubt it was a Musk Duck. 



" We have a small steam launch here, and used to have it on the 



Broadwater for a time, and go out for moonlight excursions, and when 



we came to the part where the Musk Ducks congi-egated, as the laimch 



came up to them thev used to get up and fly, whereas in daytime 



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