Vol. 



ioog'^'J Fletcher, Bird Notes from Cleveland, Tasmania. 213 



very heavy, and were out in a few days. Since then I have 

 found a second nest in a position similar to above. I cannot 

 say positively that they lay every day, but I believe so. They 

 sit when the clutch is completed. Occasionally an egg will be 

 found deposited in a nest which had previously been robbed. 

 The young ones leave the nest at once, and trail after the 

 parents. They are pretty black creatures, at a distance 

 resembling Langshan chickens. If disturbed they squat in the 

 rushes. The parents have terrific battles with the Harriers, and 

 for that reason appear to keep the babies well within the shelter 

 of the rushes. I watched a Harrier trying to take some young 

 Coots, It repeatedly swooped down, but was met every time 

 by a charge from the old Coot. Slowly the Hawk would sail 

 away, then swoop suddenly back, but the Coot was too wary. 

 For about fifteen minutes the fight lasted, and then the Hawk 

 flew right away. One day I saw two Harriers attacking some 

 Coots in open water, but the latter avoided the onslaught of their 

 enemies by diving. They do not always succeed in evading their 

 enemy, for the bones and feathers of Bald-Coots in the Harriers' 

 nests and eating-places furnish abundant evidence of the Swamp 

 Hawks' success. 



MuSK-DuCK {Bizmra lobatd) — My attention was first drawn 

 to the presence of these Ducks by finding, on the 31st May, 

 1908, an old nest in a clump of reeds on the edge of the lagoon. 

 The nest was filled with wet and rotting reeds and embedded in 

 them were two eggs, which I recognized as those of the Musk- 

 Duck. The down, of course, was indistinguishable. Subse- 

 quently I found other nests with egg-shell fragments, and so I 

 determined to watch for the owners of the nests during the 

 coming season of 1908. Occasionally I caught a glimpse of the 

 birds, but they were very shy, and disappeared by diving in the 

 water, and I suppose thence to the cover of the rushes. On 

 5th October some tall reeds standing in 3 feet of water were 

 searched. Each clump contained an old nest and one or two 

 beginnings which looked as if they were new. From an old nest 

 one rotten ^gg was taken, evidently left from the previous 

 season. The first nest in which eggs were found was built in the 

 clumps mentioned above, and the top reeds were cunningly 

 plaited and bent down, forming a splendid roof. The body of 

 the nest was formed of woven reeds and rushes, and the eggs 

 were beautifully snug in down, carefully covered over. This was 

 the only lining. Evidently the bird was away feeding, and from 

 this I should think the male does not assist in incubation. The 

 eggs were two in number, pale olive-green, and elliptical in 

 shape. On the 24th October a new nest was found, and close 

 to it another nest in 2 feet of water. The Duck was lying dead 

 outside the nest, partly on the reeds and partly in the water 

 Poor creature ! she had had a terrific fight for her life, as the 



