342 ANATIDiB. 



for a sitting, creamy-white, the texture of the shell being fine and 

 the surface smooth. 



A set in the Dobroyde Collection, taken by Mr. James Ramsay 

 at Yanda, in the interior of New South Wales, on the 15th of 

 November 1879, measure as follows : — length (A) 1'9 x 1-42 inch; ^ 

 (B) 1-9 X 1-43 inch ; (0) 1-97 x 1-42 inch ; (D) 1-95 x 1-44 inch; ^ 

 (E) 1-91 X 1-43 inch; (F) 1-94 x 1'4 inch; (G) 1-9 x 1-43 inch; 'i 

 (H) 1-95 X 1-43 inch. ' 



This species commences to breed in August and continues the 

 four following months. 



Hah. Derby, N.W. Australia, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, 

 Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers Districts, 

 New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, Tasmania, West 

 and South-west Australia. {Ramsay.) 



ANAS GIBBERIFRONS, Muller. 



Muller, Verhandelingen Land en Volhenkunde, 1839-41, p. 159. 



" There has been much discussion about this species which had 

 always been looked upon in Australia until the last few years, as 

 the female of A. castanea (A. punctata of Gould's Bds. Aust.) I 

 have not been able to find any good characteristics between the 

 females of these species up to the present time. But the males 

 may at once be known, as in ^. gibberifrons, the sexes are alike 

 in plumage ; in. A. castanea the male has a rich chestnut-red 

 breast and a glossy green head when adult, and even on the young 

 male the chest is tinged with rufous. The eggs are usually six to 

 ten in number, and are laid in the hollow branches of trees, &c. 

 Creamy-white. Length 2-15 x 1*45 inches." (Ramsay, P.L.S., 

 F.S.W., Vol. i., 2nd Series, p. 1151.) 



A fine set of these eggs taken by Mr. K. H. Bennett at 

 Ivanhoe, on the 9th of September 1885, from the hollow limb of 

 a tree, and which were enveloped in a mass of down, measure as 



