120 IN AUSTRALIAN WILDS. 



The semi-circular leathery appendage under the bill 

 of the male bird is not a "musk-pouch," as many 

 people, doubtless, believe. Like several other birds 

 mentioned in this book, the Musk-Duck is an anomaly. 

 In his "Handbook to the Birds of Australia," Gould 

 writes thus of the genus Biziura, Leach : 



"A genus of which only a single species is known, 

 and which is singularly different from every other 

 member of the Anatidas; so different, in fact, that I 

 question if this be its natural situation; and al- 

 though, like Bonaparte, I have placed it next to 

 Erismatura, I believe its alliance to that form is but 

 a seeming one. There is something about this ex- 

 traordinary bird which reminds one of the Cor- 

 morants, yet no ornithologist would, I presume, as- 

 sociate it with those birds. ... It is, in fact, a 

 Biziura and nothing more, for it stands alone." 



It was late in the afternoon when the Musk- 

 Ducks' nest was found, and after exposing several 

 plates we packed up the camera and waded ashore. 

 The Bittern "boomed" again, and the reeds, stirred 

 by a puff of wind, rustled softly. These rather 

 mournful sounds alone were heard; there was never 

 a Warbler to enliven the solitude with songs of "merry 

 glee." 



On the following day we visited Round Lake, not 

 far from Boga, hoping to find nests of the Crested- 

 Grebe [Podiceps australis] . This species is noted 

 for the tippet or frill, which is worn by both sexes 

 during the breeding season. The nest is a kind of 

 raft, composed of aquatic plants, and anchored among 

 rushes, a mass of lily leaves, or other vegetation. 

 Twenty or more nests had been noted on Round Lake 

 in the previous season, but we did not see one on this 

 occasion, the birds having sought some other breeding 

 place. I saw a number of the birds on Lake Boga, 

 which in former years was often covered with water- 

 fowl. 



