NKTTOPUS .)y 



,^1^1 IE Green Pygmy Goose is an inhabitant of the nuilhem purlioii of the Austrahan 

 J~ continent, and according,' also to Count Sahadori in the '• CataioLjue of Birds in the 

 British Museum," Southern New Guinea, Tenimber Islands, the Moluccas and Celebes. 

 Authorities differ in the description of the female of this species, doubtless owing to the variation 

 to be found in both the adult male and female. Of two specimens in the Australian Museum 

 Collection labelled females, obtained by the late Mr. Alex. Morton at Port Darwin, one has the 

 entire sides of the head white freckled with black, the other has a far less amount of white on 

 the sides of the head; but from the indistinct dull green barrings on the crown of the head I 

 believe it is an immature male. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me tlie following notes from Melbourne, Victoria: — " At all the 

 swamps or lagoons along the course of the T'ltzroy River, North-western Australia, the pretty 

 little Pygmy Goose (Ndtopus pulclKllns) may be seen in flock's of about a dozen, either feeding 

 on the grass like the ordinary domestic Goose or swimming on the water. When disturbed 

 they utter a peculiar cry. They usually lay their eggs in a hollow branch, sometimes far from 

 water. 1 have known of thirteen eggs being found in a nest." 



M. Octave Le Bon had a number of these birds in contmement in Sydney trapped near 

 Port Darwin, several of which died, and were subsei]uently presented by him to the Trustees. 



Four eggs from a nest of the I'ygmy Goose found in the grass on the margin of a swamp 

 near the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia on the loth February, igo2, are 

 blunt ellipses in form and faint creamy-white in colour, the shell being \ery smooth, lustrous, and 

 more or less nest-stained, two of the specimens so much so that they are of a uniform light 

 yellowish-brown. Length (A) i-(x) x 1-33 inches; (B) 173 x i'35 inches; (C) 175 x i-3'5 

 inches; (D) 17 x 1-36 inches; a skin of the parent was sent with the eggs. A set of eif^ht, 

 taken in the same locality on the 7th I'ebruary, 1902, measures; — Length (A) 175 x 1-37 

 inches; (B) 177 x 1-42 inches; (C) 177 x 1-42 inches; (D) 172 x 1-38 inches; (E) 1-83 x 

 1-4 inches; (F) 17 x 1-34 inches; (G) 176 x 1-38 inches; (H) 17 x r35 inches. 



In the Northern Territory of South Australia this species breeds in the wet season, during 

 the early months of the year. 



Of its congener, NcUof'iti dllnpcniiis, whose range extends down into the northern coastal 

 districts of New South Wales, although personally I have never seen or handled a specimen 

 obtained in the State, Mr. G. A. Keartland writes : — " Whilst Nettopits pulchelliis is most common 

 on the west of the Northern Territory, the White-quilled Pygmy Goose is more numerous on 

 the Queensland side. Near Charters Towers they breed regularly. Mrs. Chas. Clarke, of 

 Maryvale Station, informed me that one of the station natives took a clutch of sixteen eggs of 

 this species from a hole in a tree, only a few feet away from a nest of a common Teal, in which 

 he found si.x eggs. Both species are found on some of the swamps of the Northern Territory of 

 South .Australia." 



.'\n egg taken from the o\iduct of a White-quilled I'ygmy (ioose, shoi by the late Mr. John 

 Macgillivray at South Grafton, during October, 1864, is the only one I have seen belonging to 

 this species. It is oval in form, and of a faint creamy-white colour, the texture of the shell being 

 very fine and smooth to the touch, but without any gloss. Length 179 x i'4 inches. 



