72 NATUEAL HISTORY SKETCHES. 



in small companies, in the vicinity of water, and as they 

 are very wary, and the old drake always on the look-out, 

 a brace of mountain duck is no mean prize. I very rarely 

 saw them on the water, but they pack in some favourite 

 lagoons, and are not difficult to come up to with a punt. 

 I never saw them in the creeks, but always in the open. 

 The old male bird utters a peculiar hoarse guttural 

 warning when danger is near. They breed in our neigh- 

 bourhood, I have heard, in trees ; and I have taken the 

 young birds, but a few days old, in the damp grass on 

 the swamps. They rarely associate with the other species, 

 and fetch no more in the market than the black duck, 

 although nearly half as large again, for the flesh is con- 

 sidered coarser. 



None of the Australian ducks, except the black duck 

 and the teal, appeared to fly in large flocks ; and all the 

 male birds had that peculiar excrescence in the windpipe 

 peculiar to the British wild ducks. I fancy most of the 

 ducks out here breed in trees. 



The common wild duck of this country is the black 

 duck, and, whether for its flavour at table, its wild, gamy 

 appearance, or the sport it affords the shooter, is certainly 

 equal to any duck in the world. 



The Slack Duck is of a deep black -brown colour ; the 

 feathers edged with lighter brown, a very brilliant deep 

 purple speculum on each wing, the cheeks and throat 

 rich chestnut-red. It has a peculiar snake-like appear- 

 ance about the head and neck, and, with the exception 

 of the spinetailed swift, is, I think, the sharpest-flying 



