STIC'IONKTl A. K9 



^1^11 E soutiiein parts of the Auslraliaii continent is the stroni^liolil of the Freckled Ducl-r, 

 J- one of the rarest species of the sub-family AxATiN'.Ti. Inuring my residence in Victoria 

 1 saw it frequently exposed for sale in the poulterer's shops of Melbourne, and on rare occasions 

 I have also observed it in the ^'ame dealer's shops of Sydney. Althouf,'li it breeds in New South 

 Wales it must be looked upon as a rare species. Of the specimens in the Australian Museum 

 Collection procured in the latter State, is an example obtained by Mr. V. T. Houghton at Tom 

 Ugly's Point, Botany Bay, in April 18S9. On the 20th April, 1892, two specimens were received, 

 one from .Armidale in the north, presented by Mr. S. G. Goodwin, and one from Wagga, 

 in the south, presented by Mr. W. C. Hunter. In June, 1897, Mr. George Savidge presented 

 an adult male shot by him at Ulmarra, on the Clarence River, in that month while it was flying 

 with a flock of Nyrocn niistralis. It was accompanied by the following note: — "The Freckled 

 Duck is an extremely scarce bird in the Clarence River District. I never saw more than half a 

 dozen examples durmg all my excursions. I have just returned from a few days shooting down 

 the river, where ducks and waterfi.^wl of all Icinds are very numerous owing to the severe drought 

 inland. While there I shot a F"reckled Duck, and I am now sending the skin down. My 

 companion who was with me, and who has shot some thousands of ducks for the market, says 

 he first observed the species in 1884-5, 'wo dry seasons, but has only seen a few of them." In 

 the same month a mutilated specimen was sent me for identification shot some miles south of 

 Toowoomba, Queensland: it is extremely rare in the latter State. 



Mr. Tom Carter wrote me: — "Only once, on the 23rd July, 1900, did I note the Freckled 

 Duck (Stictonctta lurvosaj in North-western Australia. This was at Cardabia Pool, when three 

 were shot out of a small flock." 



Dr. L. Holden, while resident at Circular Head, 'J'asmania, wrote: — " ( )n the 30th June, 

 i8y2, a male Freckled Duck (Sfuioiictla lUTVosa) was brought to me. It was shot on a farm 

 about seven miles from here. In June, iSg8, Mr. Richardson of Sandford shot one. He told 

 me he got them occasionally. Mr. Alexander Morton, Curator of the Tasmanian Museuin, 

 Hobart, had previously exhibited a specimen of the Freckled Duck at a meeting of the Royal 

 Society of Tasmania ; it was obtained at Ross on the 12th April, 1884." 



Count Salvadori, in describing this species in the "Catalogue of Birds in the British 

 Museum," — the sole representative of this strictly Australian and Tasmanian genus— remarks in 

 a foot-note : — " Systematic position very uncertain. Nail of the bill bent backwards as in 

 Erisiuafufal Bill rather long, at the base much compressed and very high, rather broad towards 

 the tip; the edge of the upper mandible towards the tip, with lamella-, prominent horizontally; 

 culmen very concave, as in Tadorua lOiiiiita. No wing-speculum. Tail very short." 



For an opportunity of describing a properly authenticated set of Freckled Duck's eggs, I 

 am indebted to Mr. S. Robinson, who found this species breeding near Buckiinguy Station, in 

 the western portion of Central New South Wales. Of equal interest is Mr. Robinson's statement 

 regarding the change in the colour of the bill of this species during the breeding season. He 

 informed me that when his son first told him of this fact he could scarcely credit it, but that he 

 quickly convinced him by going out the following morning and returning with a specimen. 

 Inquiring from him the exact place in which he had shot it, he went out himself, and was not 

 very long before he flushed a Freckled Duck from her nest containing eggs. 



Writing under date 17th March, 1907, Mr. Robinson remarks: — "What nests of 

 Stictonctta navosa I have talcen were found in the Polygonum, about two feet above the water, with 

 a small platform to walk up to the nest. Three nests were taken, two each with seven eggs, 

 the other with five, and all heavily incubated. The Duck when breeding has the bill red like 

 a Black Swan, and is very shy. September, October and November are the breeding months." 



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