S4 ANATlN.t;. 



Writing from Western Australia Mr. Tom Carter remarks :— " I only saw one Shoveller 

 (SpiUiild ylivuihotis ) while in North-western Australia, which I shot on the 30th October, igoo, 

 hut another one was shot on the Minilya River during the same year." 



The nest of the Shoveller consists almost invariably of a slightly yrass-lined depression under 

 the shelter of a grass tussock or tuft of low herbage, sometimes out on an open plain, but usually 

 not far from water. At Yandembah Station, on the 24th August, i8go, the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, 

 however, found a Shoveller's nest in the top of a hollow stump of a dead Box-tree, containing 

 four fresti eggs, which were deposited on the decaying wood. The previous season he took 

 from the same place a set of eight Nettion fiihhcrifrons. 



The eggs are usually nine to eleven in number for a sitting, elliptical or oval in form, creamy- 

 white faintly tinged with green, the shell being close-grained, smooth and slightly lustrous. A 

 set of eleven taken on the 22nd September, i88g, by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, on Yandembah 

 Station, in the Laclilan District, New South Wales, measures as follows: — Length (.\) i-g6 x 

 1-46 inches; (B) i-gy x 1-47 inches; (C) i-g3 x 1-47 inches; (D) 1-1)5 x 1-47 inches; (E) 

 2 X i"46 inches; (F) 2 x 1-5 inches; (G) 2'03 x i'52 inches; (H) 2-07 x i"52 inches; (I) 

 i'g5 X 1-47 inches; (]) 2 x i-4g inches; (\\) i-qy x 1-5 inches. A set of nine eggs taken by 

 Mr. H. G. Barnard at Bimbi, Duaringa, Queensland, measures as follows: — Length (A) 2-03 

 X i'42 inches; (B) 2-18 x 1-43 inches; (C) 2-12 x 1-47 inches; (D) i-g7 x 1-47 inches; (E) 

 2'il X 1-4^ inches; (F) 2'i^ x i'43 inches; (G) 2 x 1-45 inches; (II) 2-02 x i'47 inches; 

 (I) 2'i2 X i"45 inches. The latter specimen has one or two small pale green blotches, which 

 appears common to all the eggs of the Australian .AxATiN.ii, although not of frequent occurrence. 



August and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season of the Shoveller 

 in Eastern .Australia. 



Malacorhynchus membranaceus. 



PINK-EARED DUCK. 



Anas nip.mhranacea, Lath., Ind. Orn., Suppl. II., p. .'^.tO (1801). 



Malacorhynclms membranaceus, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. 13(1848); id., Handhk. 

 Bds. Austr., Vol. IL, p. 372 (1865) ; Salvad., Cat. T-ds. Brit. Mu.s., Vol. XXVII., p. 319 

 (189.5;; Sharpe, Hand-l. Bds., Vol. I., p. 319M899). 



Adui.t malk. — Ueinrnl cclonr iihoce broicn, the iip/ier back ami scapu/ars crosseil with iiiimerims 

 fine wavy transverse bamnijs t>f imh'r broirn : loirer back, rump ami np/jer tai.l-coverts dusky brijirn, 

 llie longer coverts irhite, those at tlie sides barred witli blackish.-brotvn ; tail-Jeatliers dark broivn tipped 

 with 7rhite ; ivings brown, the greater coverts and inner primaries tipped jvith jrhite ; forehead and 

 crown of t/ie liead grei/is/i-bron-n ; a large oval patch on each side of the Iiead, anil a line from either 

 eije 7initing at the occijint and e.etrndiii.g don:n the back of the neck blackish-brown : a narroiv line of 

 feathers encircling the eye 7vliile : behind the dark patch on the side of the head a spot of rose-pink ; 

 sides 0/ face and chill lohite ; sides of the neck and all tin- nnder surface grey ish-n-hite crossed with 

 numerojis blackish-bron:n bars, broader, darker and very consjiicuons on. the sides of the body, and 

 almost obsolete on the centre of the breast : centre of the abdomen and vent while, tinged with buff ; 

 ntider tail-coverts white waslied with buff, ivhich is more prononiiced on the longer ones; bill 

 dark greenish-grey ; iris rich bronn. Totid length IS inches, wing ?'■'>, tail ,?'8, bill i2'6, tarsiis 1'3. 



Adult fkmaf.K. — Similar in plumage to the male. 



