34G Mr. C. H. B. Grant 071 Birds collected In Argeid'ina, 



218. Q.UERQUEDULA FLAYIROSTHIS. 



Querquedula Jlavirostris Arg. Oni. ii. p. 131. 



Nettion flavirostre Sulvad. Cat. B. xxvii. p. 2G1. 



a, b. ^ ad. Los Ynglases, Ajo. Sept. 18-22, 1908. 



c. S nestling. „ „ Oct. 7, 3 908. 



d. S ad. ., „ Mar. 8, 1908. 



Irides dark brown ; bill clear yellow, culmen and tip 

 black; legs and toes brownish wliite. 



One of the September birds and the March one are 

 moulting slightly on the body ; the latter shews signs of 

 wear, and many of the belly-feathers have faded to brown at 

 the tips. 



This is the Tree-Teal of the Ajo district, where it is quite 

 plentiful and very tame and confiding, many being seen 

 perched on the eucalyptus trees close to the buildings. There 

 also it breeds, placing the nest on the top of those of Bolbo- 

 rhynchus monachiis, and laying five or six eggs. It probably 

 carries the young down after hatching, although I have 

 been unable to detect it in the act, but I have more than once 

 seen the whole brood following the parent, who will often 

 affect lameness or other injury to entice the intruder 

 away. Its habit here of breeding in trees does not appear 

 to have been recorded in other localities, and Hudson, in 

 ' Arrgentine Ornithology,' mentions it as breeding on the 

 ground. The call is a harsh scraping quack, continually 

 repeated when on the wing ; the flight being very swift and 

 tAvisting when threading its way through trees. The bird 

 seems perfectly at home on the branches of the trees, 

 where, when not on the water, I have always seen it 

 resting. 



I did not obtain the eggs, owing to the inaccessible 

 positions of most of the Parrots' nests, but there is a clutch 

 of six in the collection of Miss Runnacles ; these are of 

 a pale cream-colour and slightly glossed, and measure : — 

 axis 1*88 to 2'11 in., diam. 1*4 to 1*5. The nest was lined 

 with down, and this one was placed on a Parrot's nest in a 

 small tala tree. 



