50 ANSKIIANATIN*. 



Adult fkmalk. — "^iviHar itt /i/umni/r /<i the ma/p. 



Distribullou. — North-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, 

 New South Wales, X'ictoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



fN favourable situations the range of the Semipalmated or " Magpie " Goose extends over 

 the greater portion of the Australian continent ; it also occurs in Tasmania, where, however, 

 it is an extremely rare species, and was hrst added to the avi-fauna of that island by the late 

 Mr. W. F. Petterd, from a young female shot on the Lake Kiver, near Cressy. In Northern 

 and Eastern Australia it occurs in large numbers, frequenting chiefly swamps, lagoons, mangrove 

 flats, estuarine areas, lakes and rivers, and is especially numerous in the large inland lagoons 

 in the Northern Territory of South Australia. In some districts it is nomadic in habits, 

 wandering about the country from one place to another, its appearance being generally regulated 

 by the food supply. In many localities in New South Wales, where this species was once 

 common, it has been absent for years. Principally it is found in the northern coastal districts, 

 and in the reed-beds and lagoons in the southern parts of the State. Gould records that it was 

 once common on the Hawkesbury River, but I have never seen or heard of a specimen being 

 obtained in the central-eastern district of the State. In X'ictoria, however, where it is less 

 numerous, in my early collecting days, I once saw a Hock disporting themselves in a shallow 

 swamp close to the Spencer-street Railway Station, Melbourne. 



The peculiar constructed trachea of the adult has been referred to by many writers, and 

 Yarrell figured it in the " Transactions of the Linnean Society of London," in 1827. In the 

 Northern Territory of South Austialia, the feathers of this Goose are largely used by the 

 Aborigines to ornament their weapons and implements. 



Mr. J. A. Boyd, while resident at Ripple Creek, Herbert River, North-eastern Queensland, 

 wrote me as follows under date 3rd September, i88g : — " I do not think the Magpie Geese laid 

 last season, they certainly did not near here, the first time they have missed since I came. 

 When out at Goose Lagoon some months ago, I saw no sign of old nests, nor, though I saw 

 literally thousands of these birds, did I notice a single young one." Writing later in the same 

 month Mr. Boyd remarks : — " Since I last wrote you I have been inquiring from the blacks, 

 who feed largely on these eggs when in season, and they assert that unless the Geese can build 

 in water they will not build at all. The bird in these parts builds its nest exclusively of a flag 

 or rush that grows some ten feet high ; a tussock of these is first selected and trampled down, 

 the flags all round are cut and added on top of this foundation, until it is some two feet above 

 water, and on this again, of the same material, the nest proper is formed. Last year, owing to 

 the drought and scarcity of feed, these rushes did not grow well, and were eaten down by the 

 cattle as soon as they appeared, so the birds could hardly have bred had they been inclined to 

 do so." Writing under date 6th March, 1891, Mr. Boyd remarked : — " Last week, hearing that 

 some Goose eggs had been got, I went to solve what is to me a vexed question, whether the 

 normal set of eggs laid by Anscranas was four or five ; I befieved seven. After wading some miles 

 and hours through water, I found a nest, but it contained twelve. The nest was a very slovenly 

 concern, merely a tussock of flags trodden down and the eggs laid in a depression. There was 

 no evidence that two birds had used the same nest ; had the number of eggs been nearly normal, 

 I should have eaten them, but as it was I blew them." 



Mr. R. Williams sends me the following notes under date jud November, igoo, from Swan 

 Creek, Ulmarra, Clarence River, New South Wales : — " I first found the Magpie Goose 

 (Anscvanas melaiwlcnca) breeding in a large swamp in the neighbourhood of Ulmarra, during the 

 last week of July, 1900, where I found the White Ibis engaged in building at the same time. 

 The water in this swamp varies from one to eight feet in depth, and the reeds are about eight 

 feet high. Among the latter the Magpie Goose constructs its nest, in some instances using the 

 foundation of a deserted Swan's nest, and thus saving labour: in others the foundation was 



