ANAS. 75 



flock will wlieel round and pass within easy ran^je. In lagoons near the coast these birds may 

 be obtained by waiting in concealment until they come near the edge to feed, which they do at 

 the first break of day and again just before dark. 



There is little or no variation in specimens obtained in different parts of the Australian 

 States. It is worthy of note, however, that the speculum on the secondaries, when the specimen 

 is placed against the light and viewed some distance away, is distinctly purple, not glossy-green. 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Tlios. P. Austin wrote 19th 

 November, igog: — " It is very rarely impossible to find a few Black Duck (Anas supevciliosa) 

 on this estate, and yet they are never in very large Hocks. They are mostly seen in pairs or 

 small Hocks of about half a dozen, and usually found in the Talliragar Ki\er, where there are 

 oaks growing on the banks. A few pairs breed here nearly every year, and I have often seen 

 young birds unable to fly. I believe they always nest in the Red Gums along the river, and have 

 ne\er known them to nest upon the ground, but in parts of\'ictoria, where suitable trees are few 

 and far between, I have often found them nesting in long grass. I once saw a female sitting under 

 a small bush in a garden, and she eventually brought out eight young birds, which she took 

 away. When nesting in hollow trees they do not always fly away when disturbed. I have seen 

 them come to the entrance of the holes, and there sit perfectly still with head straight out, much 

 the same as they do in hiding when wounded. They breed according to the season; in igo8, 

 which was an exceptionally dry one, very few bred here at all, but I saw a clutch of young, 

 which appeared to be about a day old, during the (irst week in June. At harvesting time they 

 can be heard in the wheat paddocks soon after dark; wheat appears to be their principal food 

 when they can get it, and they seem to be able to find it in the paddocks long after the harvesting 

 is finished. Nearly all the IJIack Ducks I shot in March had wheat in ihem, some of them 

 great quantities." 



From Copmanhurst, New South Wales, Mr. George Savidge writes me: — "The Black 

 Duck [Anas ^upcrciliosa), is found in all kinds of situations on the large inlets of the sea, rivers, 

 swamps, lagoons, and even small waterholes are sometimes tenanted by a pair or so. I have 

 seen it on the Ulmarra Swamps in large flocks comprising many hundreds; it is close on 

 thirty years ago since my first acquaintance with it in the Clarence River District, and at that 

 time it was so numerous it was no uncommon thmg for a couple of guns to bag over one 

 hundred in a single day. I have seen and heard them rise from the Ulmarra Swamps like the 

 distant roar of thunder, and found their breeding places many times, mostly in long blady grass 

 and rushes, but not infrequently in the hole of a tree often some distance from water." 



While resident at Yandembah Station, near Booligal, New South Wales, the late Mr. K. 

 H. Bennett wrote : — " I found a nest of the Black Duck (Anas superciliosa) on the 7th August, 

 1889, containing ten fresh eggs. The nest was composed of a few rushes, and placed beneath a 

 low dense Ri/r-,'!);/.!;;; bush, a small quantity of down from the breast of the parent bird being 

 scattered amongst the eggs. On the gth August a Black Duck flew off from a Crow's nest 

 in the branches of a Box-tree, about twenty feet from the ground, and on ascending the tree I 

 found the nest contained two Duck eggs ; the previous year the nest was occupied by a Crow 

 (Corvus covonoides). I have also found the nest of this species in a large stump standing in the 

 water, and again in the hollow trunks of lofty trees. From the latter situation the young are 

 carried by the parent bird one by one in her bill to the water, frei]uently several miles distant, 

 and in all probability such is the case when the young are hatched out on the plains." 



From Melbourne, \'ictoria, Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following notes : — " The 

 Black Duck (Anas supei'iiliosa ) is undoubtedly the favourite Duck of our sportsmen, and being 

 a strong flier it is able to change its quarters when its food supply becomes exhausted in any 

 district. Although Black Ducks sometimes make their nests amongst reeds or rushes, they 

 usually lay in hollow trees, often a mile or more from water. A friend living at Hedi informed 



