82 NATFEAL HISTOEY SKETCHES. 



The Pochard (a better name would have been " the 

 "Widgeon"), gray-back or China-eye, as we used to 

 call it, is a dull heavy duck, very much in plumage re- 

 sembling the British widgeon, but plumper and larger, 

 being very little less than a black duck. The eye is 

 French white. It was not very common with us. Eather 

 local, and sometimes seen in small flocks, but oftener in 

 pairs. It was a shy bird, and very rarely associated with 

 the black duck, certainly never in quantities. 



The Whistle-wing, or Pink-eye, is the smallest and 

 tamest, but with us the rarest, of all the Australian 

 ducks, not larger than the water-hen at home. It is a 

 pretty little duck, of a light silvery mottle, with a faint 

 pink mark over each eye, and a remarkably large, broad 

 shovel bill for the size of the bird: we usually found 

 them in odd pairs, but I have shot on some lagoons 

 where they came in good-sized flocks. 



The Shoveller, or " Spoony " of the duck-shooters, is 

 something like the shoveller at home in size, shape, and 

 general appearance, but the plumage is not so handsome. 

 They are chiefly found in creeks by themselves, but oc- 

 casionally join a mob of black duck on the plains. It is 

 rather a pretty duck, next in size to the black duck, and, 

 except the teal and black duck, was the commonest of all 

 the ducks in this district. The plumage of the male is 

 bright chestnut mottled with black, the breast dark, the 

 scapulars long, the speculum on the wing pale blue, and 

 the bill broad. They seemed to be partial to particular 

 localities, and I knew one creek, called the Skeleton 



