ANATIDAE 



117 



are found in pairs, plunging in the cascades, diving below the 

 boulders, or stemming the impetuous current with equal facility. 

 Sub-fam. 3. Erismaturinae. — Biziura lobata, of Tasmania and 

 Australia — except the north — is brown with buff mottlings, the 

 bill and its leathery appendage being greenish-black and the feet 

 dusky. The smaller female has less chin-lobe. This species frequents 

 the sea as well as lakes, roosts in trees, and when diving remains 

 long submerged; the food consists of mussels, leeches, and aquatic 



Fig. 33. — Musk Duck. Bizima lobata. 



(From iVatere). 



worms ; the note resembles the dropping of water. The nest, placed 

 on a stump or in a bank, contains two olive eggs ; the musky smell 

 of the sitting female having suggested the name of Musk Duck. 



-Erismatura contains seven " Lake Ducks," inhabitants of 

 fresh - water lagoons, which dive like Grebes, and remain 

 with only the bill exposed ; they are often tame, and when 

 disturbed splash along the surface like a ]\Ioor-hen, to settle 

 again almost immediately ; in swimming the spiny tail is 

 carried erect, suggesting a comparison to a " two-peaked saddle." 

 The note is said to be a curious inward sound ; the food is of fish. 



