^°'i4^"] SAXDLAXl) cK: OR'lTjX, Birds near Moora. 135 



calling in a dense thicket in cne of the swamps near Moora, but we 

 could not locate the nest. The nests are roughly made platforms of 

 sticks, placed en a fallen stick, just above water level. 



Chenopis atrata. Black Swan. — Five nests were found. The eggs 

 in four had hatched out, and the fifth contained five heavily incubated 

 eggs. One nest built of sticks, and lined with tea-tree, was in a tea- 

 tree thicket, the others were merely platforms of bulrushes. The 

 birds breed early in this district, as all these nests were found early 

 in September. 



Stictonetta naevosa. Freckled Duck. — Rare. Two nests were found, 

 the first contained seven eggs on the point of hatching, and the 

 second contained two eggs when found, and five noted a week later. 

 Both nests undoubtedly belonged to the same pair of birds. On De- 

 cember 24th a flapper was shot by a third-rate sportsman on the 

 same swamp. This Duck builds a nest of fairly fine sticks on a lean- 

 ing limb in a thick, bushy tea-tree, just above water level. The nest 

 is lined with finer twigs and tea-tree twigs and, of course, down. In 

 1918 a nest was noted with seven moderately incubated eggs. 



Nyroca australis. White-eyed Duck. — Fairly common, nests rare. 

 Two nests were found, each with seven eggs, but one also contamed 

 a single egg of the Musk-Duck. The nest is always placed in a thick, 

 bushy, isolated tea-tree growing among bulrushes. It is composed 

 of trodden-down rushes for a foundation, and then a deep stnacture 

 is made of bulrushes and lined with down. This bird builds a much 

 deeper and neater nest than either the Blue-billed, or Musk-Duck, 

 both of which build in similar positions. In 1918 several nests were 

 noted with seven and eight eggs usually, and in one instance ten. 



Oxyura australis. Blue-billed Duck. — Rare. Two nests were ob- 

 served with five and six eggs respectively^ Nests are as a inile merely 

 trodden-down bulrushes, in a thick, bushy tea-tree. In two instances 

 eggs were taken from stick nests. The nesting bush always has a 

 thick, bushy top. When among buhnishes and tea-tree, the nest 

 always has a dome of rushes. In 1918, which was a wonderful year 

 for Ducks, seven nests were noted. One nest contained eight eggs; 

 four, six each; one, five; and one, three eggs. The three-egg clutch 

 was the first found and was considered in mistake a Musk Duck's 

 nest. Evidently five or six is the usual complement of eggs laid. 

 Have given numbers of all nests yet noted by us, as both North and 

 Campbell give smaller numbers. 



Biziura lobata. Musk-Duck. — Common. Although nothing like so 

 common as the Gray (Black) Duck and Teal, more nests are found 

 of this species than all the other Ducks together. Their tastes for 

 nesting sites are much more cosmopolitan than those of the two pre- 

 ceding species. The favourite site is a bushy tea-tree growing among 

 buh-ushes. In the more open swamps any thick bush will do, and they 

 are adepts at "jumping the claims" of other birds. Number of eggs, 

 two and three, principally three, and in four cases, out of some 50-60 

 nests examined, we have found four eggs. 



Anas superciliosa. Gray (Black) Duck. Nettium gibberifron.s. Grey 

 Teal. — Although so extremely plentiful, no nests were noted on the 

 swamps last season. 



Phalacrccorax ater (Little Black Cormorant) and Microcarbo melano- 

 leucus (Little Pied Cormorant).— There is a large colony of these 

 birds in Street's Swamp, and a small one in Marrida. Nests are all 

 built of sticks, and placed in paper-bark thickets in the deeper parts 

 of swamps. The Little Black Cormorant usually prefers to nest 

 near the top of the trees, and generally lines its nest with strips of 

 paper-bark. The Little Pied Cormorant nests anywhere, and uses 

 green fronds of papei'-bark tree to line its nest with. The number 

 of eggs laid is either four or five. In the first week of September, 



