XKTTION'. 81 



trees are not ;uailable they nest in any convenient place upon the f,'round. I once saw one 

 sittin;,' upon eight eggs under a large stone upon the hanlc of a dam. This year (1909) one 

 hatched thirteen young in a hollow about seventy feet from the ground, in a green Red Gum- 

 tree, from which I took a set of four Dollar Bird's (Eiiiysloiniis pncifuiis) eggs last year. To 

 look at this hole one would hardly think a Teal could get in at the entrance, and e\en if she did 

 it appeared impossible to hatch so many eggs in such a small liollow." 



From Melbourne, Victoria, Mr. G. A. Keartland writes me as follows: — " Tlie Common 

 Teal ( Meftioi! f^ihhei'ifi'oiis) may be found in all parts of Australia. It matters little whether the 

 water is fresh or salt, the Teal is equally at home in fresh water creeks, lagoons, rivers and 

 swamps, or on the sea coast and salt lakes. I have shot them in all manner of places. If 

 heavy rain falls they will take possession of any little pool or claypan, swimming in the water 

 or feeding on the grass surrounding it. They frequently associate with ducks of other species, 

 and breed in hollow branches, often far from water. 



From Western Australia Mr. T(jm Carter writes me :—" Nettioii f;lhli,-n/ivns is a common 

 Duck in North-western Australia, breeding in hollow spouts, eggs being noted between .April 

 and August. At Broome Hill, in South-western Australia, young in down were noted on the 

 14th December, 1905, and on the 9th October, 1908; on the ist November, 1908, a nest with 

 eight eggs." 



The nest of the Slender Teal is sometimes built under the shelter of a bush or tuft of grass 

 far away from water; at other times in rushes or reeds near the edge of a swamp, but more 

 often it breeds in a hollow trunk or branch of a tree in or near the water. The nest when built 

 on the ground is a shallow depression lined with a few pieces of dried grass, or bits of rush, 

 the eggs usually being enveloped in a mass of down, plucked from the breasts of the parent 

 birds. When hollow trees are resorted to, if the eggs are laid far from the entrance, as is 

 frequently the case, there is only a slight lining or covering of down. 



The eggs are usually eight to tweK'e in number for a sitting, oval or an ellipse m form, of a 

 uniform cream colour, the shell being close-grained, smooth and almost lustreless. A set of 

 eight heavily incubated eggs taken by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, on Yandembah Station, in 

 the Lower Lachlan District, New South Wales, on the 22nd August, 1889, measures :— Length 

 (A) 1-98 X 1-42 inches; (B) 1-92 x 1-47 inches; (C) i-g6 < 1-47 inches; (D) 1-95 x 1-52 

 inches; (F) 2 x 1-43 inches; (F) 2 x 1-45 inches; (G) i"g5 x 1-43 inches; (H) 2"02 x 1-45 

 inches. A set of twelve eggs in Mr. Thos. P. Austin's collection, taken by him from a iiole in 

 a thick branch of a dead Red Gum-tree, about twenty feet from the ground, on Cobborah 

 Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, on the 26th August, 1909, is of a creamy-white and 

 measures as follows : — Length (A) 2-03 x 1-47 inches; (B) i'96 x 1-39 inches; (C) 2 x i'4i 

 inches; (D) 1-94 x i'3g inches; (E) i-8q x 1-37 inches; {¥) 1-96 x 1-42 inches; (G) i'93 

 X 1-38 inches; (H) 1-98 x 1-41 inches; (I) 1-98 x 1-38 inches; (J) i-88 x 1-43 inches; 

 (K) i'9 X i'46 inches; (L) r94 x 1-38 inches. 



When the nest of this species is built out on the plains, the young are carried to the water 

 by the female in her bill. Frequently when feeding in the sedges young birds become the prey 

 of voracious water-rats. Out in the open water they are tolerably safe, for upon the approach 

 of danger, usually in the shape of a Black-cheeked Falcon, or a Harrier, the female dives, and 

 is instantly followed by her little ones. 



In Eastern Australia .'Vugust and the four following months constitute the usual breeding 

 season, but in exceptionally wet seasons eggs have been found in May and June. 



