91 



AN ADDITION TO THE AVIFATTNA OF TASMANIA. 



Order Anseres. 



Family Anatidce. 



Anseranas Melanoleuca Latham 9 



(The Semipalmated Goose). 



By W. F. Petterd, F.Z.S. 



Tlie example of this interesting species that I sent as an 

 addition to the Museum collection is that of a young female, 

 probably a first year bird. It was shot on the Lake River, 

 near Cressy, on the 20th inst., and no doubt formed one of a 

 small flock that have lately been observed in the neighbour- 

 hood of Lavmceston. Another si^ecimen was shot on the 

 outskirt of the town, and at about the same time two others 

 were noticed flying at a great height over Invermay, and still 

 another I hear has been simultaneously seen in the vicinity 

 of the township of Westbury, so that there is little doubt 

 that at least five individuals have made their appearance 

 here. In all probability they have been carried away from 

 their distant native haunts by high wind currents of uuusual 

 force. The specie belong to a genus peculiar to Australia, 

 containing but a single form whose true home is the eastern 

 portion of the continent, having been recorded from almost 

 every favourable portion, with the exception of the western, 

 the interior, and the extreme north at Cape York. In 

 Victoria and Southern New South Wales it is fast becoming 

 extirpated, and it is now only in the most out-of-the-way 

 and secluded fresh-water lagoons and rivers that it is to be 

 still met with, but in the more northern portion of the latter 

 colony, and in Queensland, it is to be seen in some plenty 

 where a suitable locality exists for its requirements. In the 

 wild and less frequented extreme north of Australia it is very 

 abundant, and forms one of the chief sources of food for the 

 natives. Gould states — (The birds of Australia, Vol. II., p. 

 352-53) that it " was of the utmost value to Leicliardt and 

 lais party, during their adventurous journey from Moreton 

 Bay to Port Essington, as shown in numerous parts of his 

 interesting account of the expedition. So dense are the 

 flocks that occur in the northern parts of the country, that 

 the natives are enabled to procure numbers of them by 

 spearing." 



Like many of the order, matui*e specimens show a peculiar 

 elongated conformation of the trachea, but in the young 

 example that I have had the i)leasure of mauijiulaling, this 

 was not so noticeable as in those of older growtli recorded by 



