Io8 \j^QG^, Birds Observed at the Great Lake. [sth'Tan. 



Spatula rhynchotis. Shoveller. 



This swift-flying Duck was occasionally seen, usually singly or in pairs. 

 It is nowhere a numerous species in Tasmania. 



Stictonetta N.BVOSA. Freckled Duck. 



This Duck, scarce in this State, and a comparatively recent addition 

 to our list of birds, was met with on two occasions in North Lake, once 

 in company with some Blue-billed Ducks. Its first recorded occurrence in 

 Tasmania was in the eighties, when a specimen was killed in the north of 

 the island. It may have inhabited the Great Lake prior to that date, as 

 no observations have until now been made there. 



Nyroca AUSTRALIS. White-eyed Duck. 



This vigorous Duck is found in large numbers on the lake. When 

 assembled for shelter as a component part of a large mob of Ducks it was 

 noticed usually in distinct parties by itself, as evidenced by the white- 

 marked wings when taking flight. It is one of the commonest Ducks 

 at Bridgewater, on the Derwent, in the season, and falls more to the 

 fowler's gun for the Hobart market than the Black Duck. It is quite 

 probable that the eggs taken by Gould did belong to this species, as it 

 breeds on the Derwent, about Bridgewater (Mr. Malcolm Harrison). 



ErISM.\TURA AUSTRALIS. Blue-billed Duck. 



This remarkable Duck, which is extremely rare in the lowlands, and 

 first recorded from Tasmania in 1892, was not uncommon on the Great 

 Lake, which can be looked upon as its stronghold in this country. It 

 was fond of taking shelter in little bays of the islands, sometimes sitting 

 on the rocks, from which it would launch itself with a clumsy flight for 

 a short distance, and then proceed further into the open water by diving. 

 Five or six were seen in a flock occasionally. This Duck frequented the 

 upper and more shallow portions of the lake, where its floor is much 

 covered with the above-mentioned " lake weed " {Isoetes lacustris), and 

 which seems to furnish a sub-aqueous feeding ground, and form the 

 raison d'etre of so many diving birds on the Great Lake. 



BiziURA LOBATA, Gould. Musk-Duck. 



From the last sentence in the above paragraph it would be inferred 

 that the Musk-Duck is abundant on the Great Lake, which is the 

 fact. Singly or in small flocks of three to five and seven, it may be 

 seen in all the more shallow and sheltered waters of the lake, the 

 more abundant in the northern portions. Mr. Archer tells me that 

 so soon as the lake freezes over Musk-Ducks and Grebes disappear, and 

 reappear immediately after the ice breaks up and the floes drift souths 

 There are two hypotheses — either (i) these birds quit the lake for water 

 at less elevation in the group to the eastward, to reach which high land has 

 to be traversed ; or (2) a portion of the great division — South Lake — 

 does not freeze over, and becomes during periods of frost the resort of the 

 fugitive waterfowl. As regards the species under consideration, it is 

 satisfactory to see so many instances given in Mr. Campbell's work dealing 

 with the questions of non-flight and flight. Additional evidence might be 

 forthcoming from the numerous observers of this Duck, all of which tend 

 to prove that only vmder certain, and as yet perhaps undetermined, physio- 

 logical conditions the bird's instinct prompts it to fly. These may occur 

 in connection with a propensity for nocturnal wandering, and also be 

 forced upon it by the effect on its habitat of climatic changes. It is quite 

 certain that, after the manner of many diving birds, no amount of 



