MALACOKHyNfHUS. 



87 



Mr. G. A. Heartland sends me the following notes from Melbourne, Victoria: — "The Pink- 

 eared Duck (Mnliuoyhymiiiis iin-iiilii-ivicu\-iis) is the smallest species of Duck found in Australia, 

 and is a lover of fresh water. When heavy rain falls, forming small pools on the plains of 

 Melton or Keilor, these birds arrive in pairs or flocks of four or five. In the breeding season 

 they sometimes take possession of the abandoned nest of a Hawk or Crow, and after lining it 

 with down, lay and hatch their eggs. I have shut them in North-western Australia, the 

 Northern Territory of South Australia, Riverina, and Victoria." 



When resident in Pott Augusta, South Australia, Dr. A. Chenery sent me the following 

 note : — " Waterfowl in the north lay when it rains irrespective of season. On Arcoona Station, 

 one hundred and forty miles north-west from Port Augusta, I found several nests of the Pink- 

 eared Duck on the 24th April, 1901. The nests were made entirely of thick down laid on a few 

 sticks between the stems of a shrub like the Box-thorn, standing in the water. Each nest 

 contained six eggs." 



From Western Australia Mr. Tom Carter writes me: — " Maldiorliyiuliiis nuiiihyanacciis is 



not uncommon inland 

 from Point Cloates, North- 

 western Australia, being 

 mostly met within shallow 

 clay-pan waters." 



The nest of this Duck is 

 a most peculiar one. It con- 

 sists entirely ol a rounded 

 or oval mass uf dark slaty- 

 grey down plucked from 

 the breasts of the occupants 

 of the nest, and a\erages 

 about twelve inches in 

 diameter by six inches in 

 height. This is usually 

 placed on the disused nest 

 of some waterfowl built on 

 the top of a low bush grow- 

 ing in water. For this 

 purpose Polygomiiii swamps are chiefly resorted to, as they are favourite breeding haunts of 

 Ibises, Gallinules and Coots, and whose nearly flat nests form a splendid foundation for those 

 of tlie F^ink-eared Duck. In this soft and downy bed the eggs are deposited, and afterwards 

 entirely enveloped in it, securing them from the keen-eyed vision of Ravens, Crows and 

 other egg-thieving birds. Not only are disused nests of other species built on bushes resorted 

 to, but also those built on trees, particularly in flooded country, and more often in those 

 of the White-fronted Heron and Ra\en, which may be some twenty or thirty feet above 

 the surface of the water. Sometimes the nest of the Pink-eared Duck is placed on the 

 top of a hollow stump, standing in or near water, and not infrei]uently in a hole in a branch 

 of a tree, some distance feet from the entrance. In the latter position the eggs are deposited 

 on the decaymg wood, and usually have but a slight layer of down beneath them. In 1.S89 

 the Trustees of the Australian Museum received from the late Mr. K. H. Bennett several 

 nests of the Pink-eared L^uclc, taken by him on Yandembah Station, Lachlan District, New South 

 Wales. One of them is placed on the deserted nest of Cai-phibis spinicollis, built on the top of 

 a Polygonum bush about eighteen inches above the water. The nest of C. spinicoUis is a flat 

 structure, composed of thorny sticks and twigs interlaced through one another, and measures 



Nli.'Sr OF I'lNlv EAKKIJ DUCK, Ol'KNICl) ANIl KCi.s E.\l'0.si;lJ. 



