MM* 



15 



I have been fortunate enough to procure a nestling. The body is covered with thick down r 

 with long central filaments, especially on the upper parts. The general colour is dark olivaceous- 

 brown, fading to pale fulvous-brown on the throat and fore-neck, and to dull fawn-colour on 

 the breast and abdomen. There is a purer shade of dark-brown passing through the eyes 

 and melting away behind. The rudimentary wings have an outer fringe of yellowish-brown ; the 

 produced filaments on the shoulders and mantle are of the same pale colour. The bill is 

 dark-brown, with the terminal shield and the whole of the under mandible yellowish-brown. 

 Legs and feet olivaceous-brown, the webs being darker ; claws, yellowish-brown. 



Order AN'SEEIFORMBS.] 



[Family ANATIMEL 



SPATULA VAEIEGATA. 



(NEW-ZEALAND SHOVELLER.) 



Rhynchaspis Yariegata (Grould), Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii., p. 269. 



One of the partial albinos in my collection is almost exactly like Spatula clypeata of Europe, in 

 the extent and distribution of the white plumage. 



For three seasons in succession a pair of these beautiful Ducks nested among the sedges, 

 almost alongside of my boat-house at Papaitonga, and brought up their young in safety, the brood 

 coming out in the last week of November. 



Two partial albinoes of this species received from Lake Ellesmere are very remarkable 

 and beautiful objects. No. 1 differs from the ordinary bird by the absence of the white cheek- 

 mark, the head and neck being entirely black, with green metallic reflections. The whole of the 

 breast — front, sides, and a narrow collar at the back — white, with scattered horseshoe markings of 

 dull chestnut-brown, the white being boldly defined against the black of the fore-neck, but on the 

 lower margin melting insensibly into the chestnut-brown of the sides and abdomen; large 

 upper wing-coverts white, with broad crescentic bands of blackish-brown; the scapulars with 

 a very broad stripe of white down the centre. No. 2 has a dark head and neck, with green metallic 

 reflections, but differs from the other in having the whole of the shoulders and scapulars pure 

 white, there being only a dividing- stripe of the normal colour down the spine ; the long scapulary 

 plumes are pale-blue on their outer and white on their inner vanes. The blue on the small 

 wing-coverts presents a broad surface, and the angular patch of white between that and the 

 speculum is very conspicuous. The dark colour of the head and neck is sharply defined against 

 the white plumage below it. There is a large patch of pure white on each side of the rump, 

 which has dark-green reflections ; and the tail-feathers are greyish-white on their outer webs. 



In the ' Eecords of the Australian Museum ' (1892-3, p. 37) we read: 



The Australian Museum received from Dr. L. Holden, of Circular Head, the skin of a male New Zealand 

 Shoveller, Spatula variegata, Gould, that was obtained amongst others of the same species by Mr. Thomas 



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