APPENDIX. 399 



any lining of feathers or down, and contained fifteen eggs in an 

 early stage of incubation, several of which he took. This Duck is 

 very common in the neighbourhood, and is found frequenting the 

 large swamps, but this is the first time we have obtained the nest." 



The eggs in form, are an ellipse tapering sharply to each end, 

 which are pointed and of equal size. They are of a pale creamy- 

 white, and in the specimens forwarded have light reddish-purple 

 markings on one end appearing as if beneath the surface of the 

 shell, these markings are I think abnormal, one specimen having 

 only a few spots on the side. Length (A) 2 -09 x l-iS inch; 

 2-13 X 1-42 inch. 



In a subsequent letter, Mr. Barnard writes as follows: — "Nearly 

 all the "Whistling-Duck's eggs taken had markings on one end, 

 but most of those left in the nest were without them, I do not think 

 the markings are typical, but only the effect of the season, as I have 

 noticed the markings on the Butterflies and Moths were darker 

 and richer this past season than in ordinary ones." 



Hab. Derby, N. W. Australia, Port Darwin and Port Essington, 

 Gulf of Carpentaria, Cape York, Rockingham Bay, PortDenison, 

 Wide Bay District, Richmond and Clarence Rivers District, 

 New South Wales, Interior, South Coast New Guinea. {Ramsay.) 



SPATULA RHYNCHOTIS, Latliam. 

 Australiaai Shoveller. 

 Gould, Handhk. Bds. Aust., Vol. ii., sp. 588, p. 368. 



Mr. Bennett has found several nests of this species last season, 

 so I take this opportunity of giving the measurements of a full 

 set of the eggs, together with the following extract from one of his 

 letters: — "September 22nd, found nest oi Spatula rhynchotis, 

 containing eleven eggs, all quite fresh. I shot the female as she 

 flew off. The nest was composed of a few stems of grasses &c., and 

 was placed in a slight hollow in a bunch of herbage on the plain." 



In several sets examined they are elongated ovals in form. 

 A set of eleven taken by Mr. Bennett at Yandembah on 

 the 22nd September, 1889, measures as follows : — Length (A) 



