76 ANATIN*. 



me that one used to lly out of a hollow tree near his track to the f,'ate. He watched it until one 

 day he saw the duck had soniethinfj; in its bill as it Hew to the horse pond, but soon returned 

 to the nest. He concealed himself near the pond, and saw the bird make nine more trips, 

 carrying- a ducklin.<; in its bill each time. As each little one was dropped in the water it dived 

 and swam to the rushes, but as soon as they were all away from the nest the old mother called 

 her brood together and remained with them." 



Mr. Tom Carter writes me from Western Australia as follows: — " The IJlack Duck (Aims 

 siif'eirilipsa ) I found remarkably scarce inland from Point Cloates and in the Gascoyne District, 

 but in South-western Australia it is by far the most common species. At IJroome Hill young 

 in down were noted on the 7th November, 1905, and the 2iid November, igo6, and fully fledged 

 young on the 2fith of the same month. On i6th August, igo8, a nest was found with eight eggs, 

 on a sand plain, a long distance from any water." 



From Dr. Lonsdale Holden's notes, made while resident at Circular Head, Tasmania, I 

 extract the following: — " On the 28th Septemqer, 1S86, I found a l-Jlack Duck's nest in the 

 village swamp with nine eggs very near hatching. The nest was in an old tea-tree stump well 

 concealed by herbage and brush-wood and surrounded with water. It was a shallow cavity in 

 the top of the stump, lined with down from the bird's breast. On the following day 1 flushed 

 the bird from this nest again. The colour of the nest down is light sooty with white centres." 



The nest is a carelessly made open structure formed of dried grass mixed with down, plucked 

 from the breast of the parent bird. The sites selected for it are various ; sometimes it is placed 

 among the rushes or rank grasses growing near the water's edge, or among stunted herbage 

 growing out on a plain and far removed from water; at other times in the top of a hollow stump, 

 or limb, standing in or near water, and occasionally the Duck takes possession of the deserted 

 nest of the Kaven or Crow. 



The eggs are elliptical in form, of a uniform pale cream or creamy-white, which is occasionally 

 tinged with green, the shell being close-grained, smooth, and more or less lustrous. Sometimes 

 specimens in a set are irregular in colour and have a distinctly mottled appearance, or may be of a 

 lighter or darker shade of cream ; again there may be found some specimens much longer than 

 others in the same set. As a rule, however, both in size and colour, the eggs in a set are fairly 

 uniform. A set of nine taken on the 27th April, 1893, by Mr. H. G. Barnard, at Coomooboolaroo, 

 Duaringa, Dawson Iviver, Queensland, measures : — Length (A) 2-2 x i-6 inches; (B) 2'2i x 

 i-6inches; (C) 2-24 x i-6i inches; (D) 2-25 x 1-62 inches; (E)2-ii x ri'iinches; (F) 2-25 

 X 1-62 inches; (0)2-25 ^ r63 inches; (H) 2-i x 175 inches; (I) 2-09 x 1-62 inches; the 

 latter specimen is represented on Plate B. XVH., fig. ."). Mr. Barnard took another set of nine 

 slightly incubated eggs two days later, and a set of six fresh eggs on the 28th October, 1893. 

 A set of twelve eggs in Mr. Thos. P. Austin's collection, taken by him on Cobborah Station on 

 the 6th September, 1907, from a thick green limb of a Red Gum-tree, on one of the banks of the 

 Talbragar River, about eighteen feet up, and only six inches away from the entrance, measures as 

 follows: — Length (A) 2-33 x i-66 inches; (B) 2-23 x 1-67 inches; (C) 2-37 x 1-62 inches; 

 (D) 2-23 X i-f, inches; (E) 2-35 x 1-64 inches; (F) 2-32 x 1-62 inches; (G) 2-3 x 1-62 inches; 

 (H) 2'36 X 1-64 inches; (I) 2-28 x i-67 inches; (J) 2-35 x i-66 inches; (K) 2-25 x 1-67 

 inches; (L) 2-3 x i'65 inches. 



This species is a very early breeder in New South Wales, usually commencing in July and 

 continuing until the end of December, during which time two broods are reared. Many 

 broods, however, may be seen as late as the end of January. Very often, too, numbers may be 

 found breeding in March and April, after a late summer or early autumn rainfall. Much depends 

 on the rainfall whether the time of breeding at these seasons of the year is early or late. After 

 heavy rains and the break up of the drought in April, 1889, waterfowl of many species were 



