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failure — although I have met with one or two striking instances to the contrary, and with one 

 case of its crossing with the Domestic Duck. 



It usually breeds among the sedge and tangle in low situations in the immediate vicinity of its 

 haunts ; but I have sometimes found its nest on the summit of a cliff overlooking a river — and in 

 one instance placed in a bunch of Astelia, in the fork of a dead tree, at an elevation of 20 feet or 

 more from the ground. The nest is formed of dry flags or other soft materials placed loosely 

 together in a circular form ; and the interior is lined with down. The eggs vary in number, 

 there being sometimes as many as ten ; they are of a broadly oval form, measuring 2"5 inches in 

 length by 1*6 in breadth, and are of a dull creamy-white colour. 



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