**^ 



< % 



4 





*0(i 





^*^ 



\' 



V ' 



s' 



« . 



"^ 



>V 



^ 





in 



'**■ 





■}4UU 



I- 1 



*•« 



utaei 



•% 



''■i 



.theirl' 



1 



*u , 



1 1 





nihu pIKTr 



(^ 



J ^tX 



» 



bv ^^^ ^ 



r 



.*UU ^A 



1 



*1 



^liiH, 



-^ -^ ■ adult 

 andfl" 



.J E"'-"? 



^|-> to 2i^^ 



4 1"^1 



aver)' 



i 





jfc 



a 





hi 





;rilii' 



TJlA**^"' 



i^^ 



u*^ 



255 



as no sufficiently complete account of the Australian bird has ever yet been given. I carefully 

 examined the specimens in the Australian Museum ; but these were all in adult plumage ; and 

 Mr. Gould's own collection, being in Philadelphia, is, unfortunately, not readily accessible. The 

 Australian specimens in the British Museum are all males in full plumage, and therefore do not 

 assist the inquiry*. 



It is by no means a common species in any part of New Zealand, while in the northern 

 portions of the North Island, so far as I am aware, it has never yet been met with. It 

 frequents the shallow lagoons near the sea-coast, and the quiet bush-creeks overshadowed by 

 trees, usually associating in pairs, but sometimes forming parties of three or more. It flies with 

 rapidity, and often at a considerable elevation, descending to the ground or water in a slanting 

 manner, and with the wings bent in the form of a bow. When disturbed on the water it 

 produces a low whistling note ; but it is far less suspicious than the common Grey Duck, and 

 is easily approached and shot. It subsists on minute freshwater mollusks, aquatic insects, tender 

 herbage, and the seeds of the toe-toe and other plants ; on opening the stomachs of several I have 

 found a mass of comminuted substances of a greenish colour, among which could be distinguished 

 fragments of vegetable matter, seeds, the remains of insects, and numerous small pebbles of white 

 chalcedony. It no doubt extracts much organic matter from the slimy mud and sand in the 

 places it is accustomed to frequent, inasmuch as nature has furnished it with a very remarkable 

 spoon-shaped bill, from which it derives its popular name. The surface of the upper mandible 

 is smooth, but slightly furrowed from the nostrils outwardly, and in its anterior portion is 

 marked with numerous punctures j its nail is almond-shaped, and forms a strong overhanging 

 lip with a hard cutting-edge; in the lower mandible there is a corresponding development, 

 resembling in shape the human finger-nail, which fits into the upper process, forming, so to 

 speak, a strong terminal beak ; the lamellae are highly developed in both mandibles, presenting a 

 comb-like appearance ; and in addition to this the lower mandible has a rasped outer edge. The 

 tongue is large, fleshy, and of a very peculiar shape ; it is fringed along its upper edges with a 

 series of stiff*, closely set bristles; towards the extremity it is deeply concave, and is fur- 

 nished anteriorly and on each side with a horny semitransparent membrane. In the female 

 the bill is appreciably smaller than in the male, and the spoon-like expansion is not so highly 

 developed. 



Mr. Donald Potts found a nest of this species near the Eangitata river, and he has 



— *' It was placed, not in a swamp, or even near water, but 

 on the side of one of the low downs in Craig Phillips, sheltered by a couple of tufts of tussock, 

 and a plant of Spaniard grass {Aciphylla) ; it was made of fine grass, in which was a fair amount 

 of down, but not so much as is usually seen in the nest of the Grey Duck; it was deep and 

 rather narrow across the top (about 7 inches) ; the eggs were ten in number, ovoido-conical in 

 form, very smooth and fine in texture, creamy white, with a slight greenish tint, and measuring in 

 length 2 inches 1^ line, with a breadth of 1 inch 5| lines." This nest was found on November 7 ; 



Since the above was written I have seen a young male of the Australian bird in the Natural-History Museum at 

 Edinburgh (wrongly labelled S, dypeata) : it very closely resembles our Sjyatula variegata in the same stage ; but the breast 

 is decidedly darker. 



2 l2 



furnished the following account of it : 



f 



