36 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



By way of comparison, our next of kin, New Zealand, registers 

 about 85 species, with considerably less geographical range. 



Looking at a bird of this order, the principal feature which will 

 attract your attention is the length of the neck compared with the 

 legs, this being the only order in which the neck is longer than 

 the legs- — probably formed thus to enable the bird to search for 

 food in the depths below while it swims on the surface. 



Southern Australia is endowed with about 60 species, while the 

 Northern is represented by about 25. The numerical superiority 

 of the former is created by the Albatross, Cormorant, and Petrel 

 being strictly southern, or cold water, birds, while the Tern is 

 equally dispersed. 



The North is represented with one-third of the ducks, while the 

 South has two-thirds. Though we have five species of geese, it 

 is noticeable that New Zealand is unrepresented, yet its duck list 

 is nearly equal to that of our own. Of the Southern birds the 

 Petrels figure as one-third of the order.* 



Family : Anatid^e. 



Cygnus atratus, Lath., Black Swan. — This bird — one of the 

 two representatives south of the line — is confined to the southern 

 portions of our continent, and is the largest member of this family. 



Cereopsis Nov^-Hollandi^:, Lath., Cape Barren Goose. — 

 This species is now almost a stranger among the islands of Bass 

 Strait, where it was once numerous, as well as on the coast 

 adjacent. Although an inhabitant of the islets, it rarely takes to 

 the water, preferring to spend the greater portion of its time 

 among the grass, and appearing to be strictly a vegetable feeder, 

 and in course of time the toe-webs, through disuse, may entirely 

 disappear. The sexes are alike in colour; hides vermilion and 

 cere lemon. 



Anseranas melanoleuca, Lath., Semi-palmated Goose, like 

 the last, is the sole representative of its genus. As Victoria 

 becomes populated with the human family, so does it become 

 depopulated with this one, as a few years back this Anser was 

 seen in apparently countless numbers, the dense flocks affording 

 food for the original native proprietors of the colony. A 

 noticeable internal arrangement is the " trachea," similar in 

 function to that of other swimmers, but of greater proportions 

 than in any other species. The tube lies on the left side of the 

 bird, just under the skin, and in length is often 4 feet 6 inches ; 

 nature's provision being to sufficiently raise it under the wing that 

 respiration would not be impeded when the bird rested with its 

 breast on the ground. The habitat extends into the north, as it 

 is even more numerous there than here, but neither in Western 



* Owing to the length of the original paper I have been obliged to curtail it 

 in order to bring it within the capacity of the Naturalist, by omitting some of 

 the more familiar species. 



