16 



Carr, on the 20th of June, 1892, at One Tree Point, on the river Tamar, near Larmceston; numerous 

 individuals of which were seen in the neighbourhood during the past winter. This species may be dis- 

 tinguished from the Spatula rhynchotis of Australia and Tasmania, to which it is closely allied, by being less 

 robust and slightly smaller in its admeasurements ; the feathers of the lower portion of the neck and mantle 

 are white instead of fulvous-brown; the short scapulars also have a large amount of white on them, and 

 the elongated scapulars are plume-like and more conspicuously marked with a broader lanceolate satiny-white 

 stripe. The single male bird received from Mr. Walter Mantell in 1856, upon which Gould founded the species, 

 is evidently an exceptional one, if his figure of it in the ' Supplement to the Birds of Australia,' plate lxxx., 

 be correct ; it shows a far larger amount of white upon the lower portion of the neck, mantle, scapulars, and 

 breast, than specimens since obtained in New Zealand or the one at present "under consideration ; the latter 

 being similar in size and slightly brighter in colour to a mounted specimen in the Museum obtained from the 

 North Island of New Zealand, and approaching nearer to the figure given by Sir Walter Lawry Buller in his 

 ' Birds of New Zealand,' 2nd Edition, vol. ii., plate xliii., page 269, which he stated had been taken from a 

 ' fine male in the best condition of plumage.' 



Order ANSERIFOBMES.] 



[Family ANATID^E. 



AYTHYA AUSTRALIA. 



(WHITE-EYED DUCK.) 



Nyroca australis, Gould ; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol ii., p. 275. 



A specimen lately forwarded to me was obtained in the Wairarapa Lake, and I had previously 

 received one from Otago. There are several examples in the Canterbury Museum, all from Lake 

 Ellesmere. There can be little doubt that this Duck is a wanderer from Australia. 



Writing of the species in that country, Mr. Gould states that it loves quiet reaches where the 

 water runs slowly, bays and inlets of the sea ; and that it is an expert diver, collecting much of 

 its food from beneath the surface of the water, and readily descending to the bottom in search of 

 small mollusca, crustaceans, insects, and aquatic plants, on which it chiefly subsists. 



The species occurs also in Tasmania, New Caledonia and the Papuan Islands, extending 

 northward as far as Waigiou. 



Mr. A. J. Campbell, in his ' Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds,' writes (p. 1051) : " The 

 White-eyed Duck is an exceedingly swift flyer. The lightning-like rapidity with which a flock 

 sometimes flies down stream, especially with a good breeze behind, often baffles the best 

 sportsman for a successful shot." 



The following description of the egg is given by Mr. Eamsay on the authority of Mr. Whittell, 

 who was well acquainted with this bird, and had no doubt as to the authenticity of the egg in 

 question: "The eggs are large for the size of the bird, have a glossy look and feel greasy to the 

 touch ; they are of a light-cream colour, rather oval, swollen, both ends nearly alike ; in length la) 

 2'52 by 1-88 in. ; (b) 2'5 by 1'8 in." 



