264 



I have found it concealed from view by overhanging sprays of those various Alpine veronicas 

 which sometimes make the mountain-creeks in the back country perfect gems of beauty. The 

 nest, like that of other Ducks, thickly lined with down, generally contains five eggs of a deep 

 cream-colour, elliptical in form, measuring 2 inches 8-^ lines in length, with a diameter of 1 inch 

 9 lines. I have seen nests of eggs in October and November; but I have known the young 

 brood to be swimming about by the end of September. We may therefore consider it one of our 

 early breeders. As I have mentioned that it breeds in holes of banks, it is worth recording, per- 

 haps, that I have found the nest in situations that did not afford any great amount of shelter ; one 

 such instance was met with on a spit in the Upper Ashburton river, about three miles below the 

 glacier from which 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 ; it was made of grasses, the 

 interior composed of cut grass like chaff, down, and a few feathers." 



There are several specimens of the egg of this bird in the Canterbury Museum. They are 

 narrower or more elliptical in form than those of most other Ducks, measuring 2*6 inches in 

 length by 1*7 in breadth ; they are of a pale cream-colour, slightly tinged with green, and some 

 of them much stained on the surface, probably from contact with the bird's feet during the pro- 

 cess of incubation. 



