10 



closely on those days than on warm ones, and they require a heavy charge— big shot and straight powder— to 

 account for them, especially for the second barrel, as Ducks coming up wind to decoys recover themselves and 



' go about ' very quickly One method of Duck-shooting is not described, although it is very much 



in vogue in parts of the North Island. This is, being silently paddled up a river by a Maori in his canoe, and 

 shooting the Ducks as they rise out of the rushes on either bank. It reminds one very much of the shooting 

 in the Norfolk Broads, and no puntsman, however efficient, could possibly punt more silently than the Maori 

 paddles. I have heard of using a steam launch in place of a canoe, but that, of course, can only be carried out 

 on the larger rivers, and at best is only a very poor substitute for the Maori and his canoe, and it rather 

 savours of a pleasure party down the Thames than a sporting expedition. 



Order ANSERIFOKMES.] 



[Family ANATIDiE. 



NETTIUM CASTANEUM. 



(AUSTRALIAN TEAL.) 



Mareca castanea, Eyton, Mon. Anat., p. 119, pi. 22 j, (1838). 



Before leaving the Colony I received from Mr. Dall, of Collingwood, descriptive notes of a pair 

 of Ducks that had been shot on the Aorere river in June, 1897. The birds having been mounted 

 and set up in a case, he failed in his efforts to have them sent over to Wellington for my inspec- 

 tion. From the imperfect account furnished, the only species to which I can refer them is the 

 Australian Teal, a bird which (according to Mr. Gould) is universally dispersed over the southern 

 portion of Australia, and is equally numerous in some parts of Tasmania. Although Mr. Gould 

 states that this Duck is not migratory in its habits, he describes it as "a bird of powerful flight"; 

 so there would be nothing extraordinary in a pair of stragglers, under certain conditions, finding 

 their way to New Zealand. 



It is already recorded from New Zealand, in the ' British Museum Catalogue of Birds ' 

 (vol. xxvii., p. 254), on the authority of a specimen from Otago (an adult female) in the Hume 

 collection. 



NETTIUM GIBBERIFRONS. 



(WOOD-TEAL.) 



Anas gibberifrons, Miiller; Buller, Birds of New Zealand, vol. ii„ p. 261. 



My discovery ol ! this bird in New Zealand, in 1866, will ever be associated in my mind with the 

 completion by Dr. Featherton and myself of the historic purchase for the Crown of the Upper 

 Eangrtxkd-Manawatu Block. We were camped near the mouth of the Oroua Eiver, an 



