WOOD DUCKS. 419 



from a habit of perching on the trees, have received 

 the name of wood ducks. They were very different 

 and far superior in plumage to those found on the 

 south eastern parts of the continent, and as they 

 have not yet been numbered among the Australian 

 birds so vividly described by Mr. Gould, we may 

 venture to be somewhat minute in describing them. 

 They are inferior in size to the common European 

 wild duck, but are marked in much the same manner 

 on the breast. The back is a dark brown, while the 

 wings, still darker, are slightly bronzed at the tips. 

 Their singularly long legs are of a pale flesh colour, 

 while the web on the foot is very much arched 

 near the toes, giving greater pliability to the foot 

 and a power of grasping, which enables them to 

 perch on trees. The head and bill, the latter of a 

 pale ash colour, are both large. When on the 

 wing they make a peculiar though pleasing whist- 

 ling sound, that can be heard at a great distance,* 

 and which changes as they alight, into a sort of 

 chatter. Their perching on trees is performed in 

 a very clumsy manner, swinging and pitching to 

 and fro. We subsequently often found them on the 

 rivers on the North coast, but not within some 

 miles of their mouths or near their upper waters, 



* Mr. Eyre has since informed me that there is a whisthng 

 duck, something similar, on the Murray River, but is not aware 

 that it has the peculiar habit of perching on trees. 



2 E 2 



