44 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



his nuptial dress, for about three months, or just through 

 the breeding season, and that for the remaining nine months 

 he is clothed in the same modest garb as the female. Thus, 

 you will see, according to the authority mentioned, the male 

 Teal would moult twice within three months. Other authorities, 

 probably quoting from Gould, follow in the same strain. Now 

 this view clashes somewhat with my experience. It is generally 

 known that the breeding months of our Teal are covered by the 

 close season, which is from ist August to 20th December ; there- 

 fore, unless one breaks the law, these beautiful birds ought not to 

 be found in any of our collections. I have shot them several 

 times in the open season, and the specimen on the table to-night 

 was shot on 12th June last. In order that there might be no 

 doubt about the date of its death I took the bird in the flesh and 

 showed it to Mr. Kershaw at the Museum on the following day. 

 Whilst I was there Professor M'Coy paid a hurried visit to the room 

 on business of his own, but he saw the bird and said the matter 

 must be looked up. I must state here, in order to show that this 

 is not an isolated specimen, that on the first Monday in May I 

 saw eight pairs of these birds hanging in Mr. Jenkins's shop in 

 Swanston-street. During June there were upwards of thirty, and 

 since the first of this month I have seen many more. I think" 

 this conclusively proves that the change of plumage theory is an 

 error. In support of my contention that they are a separate 

 species the following comparisons are worthy of notice : — Two 

 male chestnut-breasted birds turned the scale at 3 lbs. 1 oz., 

 measured 28 inches from tip to tip of wings, and were 20 inches 

 from tip of bill to end of tail. These birds were almost exactly 

 the same weight, but, as showing a probable difference in age, this 

 bird (No. i) was very tender to skin, and seemed to be a much 

 younger bird than the other. My wife, with an eye to economy and 

 a nice dinner, decided to curry the bodies. They both had the 

 same amount of boiling, but the flesh of this one was over -cooked 

 before the other was tender enough to be eaten. I next selected 

 this pair of sombre Teal (No. 2). This bird proved to be an old 

 male, and when his body was submitted to the same process as 

 his predecessors proved hard and tough when the other was 

 boiled to pieces. This pair of birds weighed 2 lbs. 3 ozs., and 

 measured 18 in. from beak to tail and 26 m. across the wings. 

 The bird numbered 3 is a young male in his first year. It will 

 thus be seen that there is not only a difference in plumage but 

 also in measurement, and a still greater difference in weight. 

 The birds were all in about the same condition, so far as fat and 

 flesh were concerned. After they were cooked I made a still 

 further comparison of the bones. Those of the sombre variety 

 were so much smaller than the others as to be easily distinguished. 

 It may interest our oologists to know that I have also eggs of 



