THE WOOD DUCK. 81 



the shooters get a fair living. Connor, who was cer- 

 tainly the best punt-shooter out here, stuck to it longest 

 of any in our bay. He had a sailing boat, and cruised 

 in the bay with his float and big gun on board, and shot 

 on the coast and the large lagoons at the Heads ; but he 

 knocked off at last, as I suppose it hardly paid, about 

 three years ago. I recollect he used to make one 

 trip a week, and brought back about fifty couple of fowl. 

 If a man is camped for any certain time near a good 

 lagoon, he can easily manage to knock up a float himself 

 with a few boards, and fit up a moderate-sized gun with 

 a rope-breeching (I never saw any other used here), and 

 the whole affair need not cost him 10. 



The Wood Duck, take it altogether is, I think, the 

 handsomest little duck in the colony, hardly so large as 

 the pochard at home, with a head and beak exactly re- 

 sembling the bernicle goose of Europe. The plumage is 

 silvery gray, mottled with black, with beautiful long 

 scapulars striped black and white; the wing-speculum 

 very brilliant, the breast black, the head and neck chest- 

 nut, and the male has a small crest or mane. It was by 

 BO means a common duck, at least with us, and was 

 generally seen in pairs or small families in some secluded 

 water-hole ; sometimes on the water, but more often 

 standing on the bank. They were by no means shy, and 

 easily crept up to. Bred in holes of trees, and often 

 perched on the gum-trees by the side of the creeks. It 

 appeared to be rather a local bird, and rarely associated 

 with the other species. 



G 



