■I'AI>OKNA. 



73 



was observed by me in November, 1897, in a small waterhole near the Gvvydir River in the 

 Moree District. Mr. Robt. Grant had also previously procured one of these birds, he mformed 

 me, near Narromme, and much farther to the south-west, so its range in Northern New South 

 Wales extends over a wide expanse of country. 



In the " Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London," in iSjj, Dr. K. P.Ramsay 

 writing on the birds of North-eastern Queensland remarks of Tadorna nuijal, :-" I found this 

 fane Wood Duck breeding in holes in the hollow limbs of trees during the months of December 

 and January. It .s a common species all over Queensland, north of the Mary River. I have 

 received specimens from Port Denison and Rockingham Bay, and also examined specimens 

 from Port Moresby, where birds have a much narrower pectoral band than is found in the 

 Australian examples I have seen." Subsequently Dr. Ramsay informed me it was on the 

 Burnett River he found this species breeding in November and December of 1873 and January 

 1874. 



In the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum"* Count Salvadori remarks of 

 r,;,/,.nw n,,//,,/, :^" Australian specimens are larger, and have the back much more chestnut 

 than those from the Moluccas and Papuan Islands." Subsequently Dr. P.rnst Hartert in 

 " Novitates Zoologica'," f subspecilkally separates Australian specimens obtained at the So'uth 

 Alligator River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, under the name of Tadorna nuij,h 

 ;'//A7<T,^«,„, and writes:-" Comparing the Australian specimens with our large series from the 

 Moluccan Islands and New Guinea, Mr. Rothschild and I found that the former differ strikin-dy 

 from the latter (iu:, typical nidjah j by their chestnut or dark chestnut instead of brownish-birck 

 upper back. Count Salvadori has already drawn attention to the differences of Australian 

 specimens, but has not given a name to them. The larger size of the Australian bird is not 

 constant in a series, though generally noticeable." 



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

 White-headed Sheldrake is confined to the northern portion of the continent, and may be found 

 from Queensland to West Kimberley. It breeds in hollow trees on the margin of the rivers 

 On the Margaret River, North-western Australia, I saw an old bird with eleven youn" 

 ones following her. The brood was hatched in a hollow tree, close to where people 

 frequently passed, and Mr. Wm. M'Donald, of Fossil Downs Station, who directed me where to 

 see them, stated that every time he passed the tree where the nest was the old bird tlew out 

 until a few days before hatching, when she kept on the eggs. On the Daly River, in the Northern 

 Territory of South Australia, they are very plentiful, and the natives make havoc amongst their 

 eggs. In West Kimberley I frequently saw them in company with Black Ducks or Teal 

 They appear to be somewhat local in their habits. If shot at or disturbed they soon returned 

 to the place from which they had been di' 



aiiven. 



An incomplete set of eggs taken from the hollow branch of a tree during 1S75 are five in 

 number, of a rich creamy-white, the shell being close-grained and its surface smooth and lustrous 

 and measures :-Length (A) 2-29 x 1-59 inches; (B) 2-2 x 1-58 inches; (C) 2-2 x 1-39' 

 inches; (D) 2-13 x i-6i inches; (E) 2-17 x 1-58 inches. An egg in Mr. G. A. Heartland's 

 collection taken on the bth Apiil, 1902, near the Daly River, in the Northern Territory of South 

 Australia, is nearly a true ellipse in form, and measures :— Length 2-4 x r6S inches. Two 

 eggs in Mr. C. French, Junr's., collection, from the same set, measure :— Length (A) 2-35 ;< i- 

 inches; (B) 2-3 x 171 inches. ' ^ 



In Eastern Queensland Dr. Ramsay found this species breeding during November and the 

 two following months. In Northern Australia it probably commences after the rainy season 

 sets in, usually in February and March. 



• Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVII., p. 176(1895), t Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p. 205 (1905). 



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