AX AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 67 



1 137*Pink-eared Duck (Pink-eyed, Zebra), Widgeon (e), 

 1 Malacorhynchus membranaceus, A., T. 



Nom. v.r. fresh water 17 

 Under barred brown, white; face, chin white; black round 

 eye; behind eye a spot of rose-pink; back, wings brown; 

 upper base tail whitish; tail dark-brown slightly tipped 

 white; f., smaller. Water-animals. 

 1 138 Freckled Duck (Monkey), Stictonetta naevosa, V., 

 1 S.A., W.A., T., N.S.W. v.r. water 17 



Dark-brown freckled whitish, under lighter. Small fish, 

 pond-snails. 

 1 139* White-eyed Duck (Purple- headed, White - winged), 

 8 Hardhead, Brownhead, Barwing, Karakahia, Aythya 



australis, N.G., A., T., N.Z., =vt. Canvas-back of N. 

 Am. c. lagoons, hays 20 



Chestnut-brown; white patch on wing; upper abdomen 

 whitish; under tail white; eye white; f., smaller, 

 duller. Pond-snails, insects. 

 1 140 Blue-billed Duck (Spiny-tailed, Stiff -tailed, Diving), 

 7 Erismatura australis, N.S.W., V., S.A., W.A., T. 



v.r. reedbecls 16 

 Head, neck black; chest, back, flanks chestnut; tail black- 

 ish; bill light-blue; f., bill olive-green; freckled gray- 

 brown; under lighter. Insects, pond-snails, fish. 

 1 141 Musk Duck (Must), Mould Goose (e), Biziura lobata, 

 1 S.Q., N.S.W., V., S.A., W.A., T. 



Stat. c. lagoons, bays 26 

 Blackish freckled buffy-white; wings small; long stiff tail- 

 feathers; bill, lobe beneath chin greenish-black; dives; 

 f., half-size; duller; no lobe. Frogs, shellfish, shrimps. 



flaps along the surface with its short wings, but hesitates to exer- 

 cise its "feeble grebe-like flight." 



Some writers declare that the large Musk Duck is the most 

 remarkable of the many remarkable birds of Australia. It is the 

 only known species of the genus, and is "singularly different from 

 every other member of the Duck family," as Gould points out. 

 Gould further says that "this extraordinary bird reminds one of 

 the Cormorants. Like many other of these antipodean forms, it 

 must be regarded as an anomaly." The male has a lengthened, 

 stiff, and leather-like appendage under the bill. The female is 

 without this pouch, and is but half the size of the male. A pair 

 is often to be seen on a sheltered bay or on an inland dam, and 

 yet this bird has very feeble powers of flight. It is difficult 

 to cause one to take to flight. Mr. A. J. Campbell summed up 

 an instructive discussion on this point in the columns of The 

 Australasian by concluding that Musk Ducks can fly, though they 

 do so almost entirely at night. 



There are six families of birds included in Order XIV. — the 

 Totally-webbed Swimmers. All four toes are joined by a web. 

 Ducks have three toes only joined by the web, the hind toe 



