MALACORHYNCHUS. 



85 



PINKEAREI) DUCK. 



Distnbiiliou.—SoTth-westem Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, (Queensland, 



New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania. 



r |®\HIS distinctly marked little Duck is generally distributed over most parts of the Australian 



-L continent. It is also found in Tasmania, but is there considered a yarn avis. It is 



a common species in the inland portions of New South Wales, evincing a decided preference 



for open shallow lagoons, usually 

 being met with in pairs or small 

 flocks, and will admit of a very near 

 approach, and then as a rule it only 

 flies a short distance before alighting 

 on the water again. Although easy 

 to procure, and almost the same size 

 as the Slender or Grey Teal, it is 

 not sought after by sportsmen for the 

 table as is the latter species. The 

 vernacular names of Pink-eared 

 Duck and Pink-eyed Duck applied 

 to tills bird are, strictly speaking, 

 incorrect, for it has neither a pink 

 ear nor a pink eye. The latter name 

 was bestowed on it by the early 

 colonists, and served as well as any 

 other to distinguish the species, as 

 it is totally unlike any other Duck in Australia. Put the oblong spot of rose-pink on each 

 side of the head, whence it takes this name, is a quarter of an inch behind the eye, and nearly 

 half an inch above the ear-coverts. This species seldom occurs in the neighbourhood of Sydney. 

 A few examples were brought under my notice in Way, 1897, obtained at Botany during a 

 period of drought inland, one of these specimens being presented to the Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum by Mr. H. Burns. I have never seen or heard of its occurrence near the metropolis 

 since. In X'ictoria I saw one of these birds shot in a shallow brackish lagoon between St. 

 Kilda and Albert Park, near Melbourne, at that time a great resort of waterfowl. 



Writing me from Ripple Creek, lierbeit River, North-eastern (Queensland, Mr. J. A. Boyd 

 remarks :—'^(Jn the 9th September, 1892, I shot three Pink-eared Ducks; it was the first time 

 I had seen this species here." 



From Copmanhurst, New South Wales, Mr. George Savidge writes :—" The Pink-eared 

 Duck (MalacovJiyiichus mcmhranncciis ) I thinlc was always a rare bird in these parts, and is seldom 

 met with, but I have seen odd ones at times shot by the duck shooters and exposed for sale." 



Mr. Robt. Grant, Taxidermist of the Australian Museum, has handed me the followino- 

 note:—" I have found the Pink-eared Duck in many parts of Western New South Wales, at 

 Narromine, on the Macquarie River, on the tanks and dams in the Byrock District, on 

 Buckiinguy Station, near Nyngan, on the billabongs of the Darling River, near Bourke, and at 

 Budda Lake near Trangie. At the latter place I found it breeding in holes in dead trees in 

 September. One nest was placed on the top of an old nest of Trihiviyx tviifrnlis in some reeds, 

 and it contained three fresh e'^gs beautifully enveloped in down plucked from the breast of the 

 parent birds. Although partially surrounded with reeds, it was fully exposed to view, and 

 looking at it from a distance it resembled very much a Spiny Echidna (Ecliidim Iiystrix). I 

 have never met with this Duck in flocks, only in pairs." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. Austin writes me :— 

 " The Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhyncluis niciiihranaceits) is much the tamest of its tribe, and as 

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