;).( KlilSMA'l IHIN.E. 



Murray Ki\fr. Altlion,t,'h they have \ery short wins;s they lly \ery fast when forced to take 

 flight, but, if possible, they ,<,'enerally try and avoid dan;;er by diving,'. 'Iheir chief food is alga^ 

 and other forms of aquatic vei:;etation, whicli they obtain whilst divint^. Their flesh is more 

 like that of the Tippet Grebe than a Duck, and the skin of the breast is lined with a inass of 

 oily blubber, which is a source of considerable trouble to the taxidermist. A ^,'reat many of 

 them set drowned through becoming entangled in nets set for tish. All the specimens 1 ha\e 

 had were obtained in that manner. \'ery few people care to eat them, although the Hesh is not 

 badly flavoured. Their eggs are large in proportion to the size of the bird." 



r)r. Lonsdale Ilolden thus records in his notes, while resident at Circular Head, on the north- 

 western coast of Tasmania : — "On the 15th April, 1892, a male Blue-billed Duck ( Eiismattiva 

 nuitialis) was sent me by Mr. J. F^oke. This bird was shot by him in the lagoon at the back of 

 his house on Circulai Head Peninsula. It was swimming low in the water, in company with 

 a Teal. I could not satisfactorily determine the colour of the iris ; internally it appeared to be 

 very dark, with an external pale rim. In the crop was green granular vegetable matter, mixed 

 with small pieces of grit." 



Eggs in Mr. G. A. Keartland's collection, tal;en by Mr. K. Herd on the ifith November, 

 1902, from a nest in a Polygoninn bush in a swamp near Benjeroop, Northern \'ictoria, vary 

 from oval to an ellipse in form, the shell rough to the touch, caused by very fine granulations, 

 which are visible when examined with a lens, slightly lustrous, and of a dull greenish-white, 

 nest stained, and most resembling in colour the eggs of the Black Swan, and less so those of the 

 Musk Duck, which are of a slightly deeper hue. Two of a set of three fresh eggs measure : — 

 Length (A) 2-62 x r88 inches; (B) 2-66 x rSS inches. Another one of a set of three heavily 

 incubated eggs measures 2-65 x 1-87 inches. 



Young birds of both sexes are alike. The distinguishing characters of the young male are 

 first exhibited in the uniform coloured black'ish-brown feathers on the forehead, crown and sides 

 of the head, and the intermingled dull chestnut feathers on the foreneck', back and scapulars. 



In Western .\ustialia Gould states it breeds in September and October. In Victoria both 

 fresh and incubated eggs have been found in November. In New South Wales Mr. K. H. 

 Bennett found chipped eggs and young birds on the 2nd November, and I saw young birds 

 that were shot at Trangie in March. 



Biziura lobata. 



MUSK DUCK. 

 Allan lobn/ii, .Shaw, Nat. Mi.scL, pi. 255 (1706). 



Jiiziura lobata, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. VII., pi. 18 (If^-tJS); vL, llandbk. Bds. Austr., 



Vol. II., p. 381(1805); Salvad., Cat. Bds. Brit. Mu.s., Vol. XXVII., p. 452 (1895); 



Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., VoL I., p. 227 (1899). 



Anrr.r m.^lr. — dnwraf colour above bhickish-browu, i^ronsftl unlh iiuineroi'S Iransru-rfie bars of 



bnjfyfv/ii/'', or ir/iili/ broicu ; quills and tail.-featJiers hroirnislt-hlark : fomhead, croirit of the head, 



■tmjie and centre of the hiad-neck bronuiish-b/ack ; sides of the head and neck blackish-brown, each 



feather broadly lipped and barred with trhitij-brown ; chest and sides of the body like the back ; centre 



of the breiist ^cliity-broicn, the concealed portions of the fentliers grcyish-broivn., transversely barred ivitli 



ivhity-broH'n ; on the lower portion of the abdomen the i/reyish-brown bases of the feathers are exposed, 



and their idIiU y-brown tips are /cashed with buff ; under tail-coverts blackish-brown crossed and lipped 



