103 



For years we hunted unsuccessfully for the nest, trying the most likely 

 swamjDS in the neighbourhood of its haunts, in the hope of making the 

 discovery, but our diligent quests were in vain ; one of the wi-iter's sons was 

 at last STXccessful, as the following communication will show :■ — -'^ Hurrah for 

 the Shovelors ! Yesterday (Nov. 7), we found a nest at last ; it was placed 

 not in a swamp, or even near water, but on the side of one of the low downs 

 in Craig Phillips (near the Rangitata), sheltered by a couple of tufts of tussock 

 and a plant of Spaniard grass [Acvphylla) ; 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 {A. sicperciliosa) ; it is deep, and rather narrow across the top (about 

 7 inches) ; the eggs, ten in number, ovoiconical in form, very smooth and fine 

 in texture, creamy white with a slight greenish tint, measure in length 

 2 inches 1| lines, with a breadth of 1 inch 5J lines." 



This nest was probably commenced in the first week of October, as some 

 of the eggs placed u.nder a hen were hatched on Nov. 18. The yoxing bird 

 greatly resembles young grey duck in colour, being clouded with brown and 

 yellow, but the peculiar form of the bill, with its broad point, is noticeable 

 when it emerges from the shell. 



Tlie singular shaped bill, which gives a name to this duck, is well worth 

 studying ; it is nearly three inches in length, much dilated near the extremity, 

 the upper mandible possessing great flexibility, is abundantly furnished with 

 nerves, conferring a great degree of sensibility on that organ, which must 

 greatly aid the bird in selecting its food ; it terminates in blunt unguis of 

 considerable hardness. Both mandibles are furnished with a pectinated 

 appendage, in which laminse are closely arrayed, the sharp and projecting 

 teeth of the upper mandible overlapping and acting against the peculiar 

 apparatus of the lower mandible. From this elaborately-organized trap, even 

 the smallest aquatic insects could not escape. 



No. 98. — Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus, Gml. 

 Whio. 

 Blue Duck, Mountain Duck. 



(See also Vol. ii., p. 73.) 



Having stated that the Blue Duck occasionally breeds in holes of banks, 

 it is woi'th recording, perhaps, that we found the nest in situations that did 

 not afford any great amount of shelter ; one of these instances was met with 

 on a spit in the Upper Ashburton River, about three miles below the glacier 

 fi'om whence that river derives its source ; the nest was placed in a solitary 

 snow-grass tussock of moderate size, within two or three yards of the stream j 

 it was made of grasses, the interior composed of cut grass like chaff, down, and a 

 few feathers. 



In examining an embryo of three weeks, we found that the form of the 



