i)(; KUI.SMATUUINvK. 



The late Mr. K. i 1. ISenneit, writing from Mossgiel, New South Wales, in i8S6, remarked : — 

 " liin'iii-ii lolml.i is seldom found in this district, except in times of flood, its chief habitat being 

 the deep permanent la^'oons and lakes borderin-,' the rivers, where it can fully exercise its great 

 divin,!,' powers. Nothin;:; will induce this bird to take wins; during the day, and its journeys are 

 always performed at night, as owing to its feeble powers of llight it would speedily become an 

 easy prey to any large-sized raptorial bird, although it is capable of slow but sustained flight. 

 On one occasion when camped at night far from water, one of these birds came fluttering down 

 alongside of me, apparently attracted by the glow of the lire. On another occasion I caught 

 one alive, after a great deal of trouble, in a small but deep hole by diving after it. I had been 

 previously told by the blacks that the Musk Duck only flew at night, and that they could not 

 be made to fly during the day. Curious to know whether such was the case 1 did all I could 

 to induce tliis one to fly, throwing it up in the air, and although a fully developed bird, all to no 

 purpose, and I am convinced that it never flies during the day. It is an extremely solitary bird, 

 and \ery rarely indeed are two seen together. The male has a curious habit of throwing up 

 the water, in play, with its powerful feet, until the bird is enveloped in acloud of spray, uttering 

 at intervals a deep note impossible to imitate; I have seen one keep this play up for nearly one 

 hour. During periods of inundation it breeds here in the Polyaonum swamps, which are then 

 partially submerged, the nest being placed in the top of a bush, a few inches above the surface 

 of the water." 



From notes made by Dr. Lonsdale Holden, while resident in Tasmania, I have extracted 

 the following : — •" On the 29th December, 1886, a female Bizinra lohata was shot off the wharf 

 at Circular Head. In the previous year I was told a pair were shot in the village swamp; and 

 also that they are numerous on Kobbins Island. ()n the ist June, 1905, Mr. E. Harrison of 

 Wentworth, Clarence, shot a line male Biziuva lohata on his lagoon. It was seen to attack a 

 domestic drake, which was on the lagoon with his ducks, and drive its enemy to the bank and 

 violently attack it. When Mr. Harrison went to pick it up it was found to be much mauled 

 about tne neck and quite dead. He then pursued the Musk Duck in a boat, and succeeded 

 after a chase and some failures in shooting it. It is in perfect plumage, very odoriferous, and 

 heavy, with a large black leather-like appendage depending from the centre of the membrane 

 that forms the floor of the lower mandible." 



The nest is usually formed in or about swamps, in low stumps, among reeds and rushes, of 

 which it is frecjuently formed, intermingled with grasses and down plucked from the breasts of 

 the parent birds. At Gulpha Lake, near Mathoura, in New South W'aies, the late Mr. H. G. 

 Evered informed me he found, or had collected for him, many nests of this Duck containing two 

 or three eggs. At Lake Bathurst Mr. j. Cropper found them breeding in October and November. 

 I have also received incubated eggs taken during November in Western \'ictoria. 



The eggs are usually two or three in number for a sitting, elliptical in form, the shell being 

 coarse-grained, slightly granulated and almost lustreless. They are a dingy greenish-white 

 clouded with pale olive, which is more pronounced on some specimens than others. A set of 

 two taken at Lake Bathurst, New South Wales, measures: — Length (A) j-iS x 2-12 inches; 

 (B) 3'i6 X 2-14 inches. :\ set of three taken in Western Australia measures: — Length (A) 

 3-22 X 2-i8 inches; (B) 3-18 x 2-i6 inches; (C) 3-2 x 2'i5 inches. 



In Eastern .Vustralia October and the four following months constitute the usual breeding 

 season of this species. At Gulpha Lake fresh eggs were taken at the end of December. 



