ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 179 
GENUS ELASMONETTA. 
This genus comprises one type, Zlasmonetta chlorotis, of 
which the total length is about 18 inches, the female being 
about an inch less. It has not been imported alive, and is 
confined to the New Zealand Islands. 
BROWN DUCK. 
(Elasmonetta chlorotis. Anas chlorotis). 
This elegant little Duck is distributed all over New 
Zealand ; it is a nocturnal feeder, and hides itself among the 
waterside vegetation during the day, making a peculiar sniffing 
noise when searching for food, but the sound is not unmusical. 
Buller says :— 
“«Tt is a very indifferent flier, but swims well and dives with facility. 
When shooting on a lake near Tiakitahuna, in the upper Manawatu, some 
years ago, I came upon a flock of sixty or more of these birds; instead of 
taking wing when closely followed, they swam towards the shore, and then 
forming into a line they hurried forward in a very impetuous manner, keeping 
close under the banks of the lake, and uttering a low confused twitter.” 
It chooses a dry and quiet place for its nest, which is 
formed of dry grass. 
Male.—According to Salvadori, the head and upper part 
of the neck are brown, the crown glossy with a chestnut tinge ; 
sides of the occiput and nape glossed with metallic green ; 
throat more or less whitish; upper parts brown, the edges of 
the feathers paler greyish-brown ; on the interscapular region 
the feathers are finely waved with black and rufous lines, the 
outer scapulars black on the outer web, waved with black and 
chestnut lines on the inner ones; lateral upper tail-coverts 
black, glossed with green on the outer webs; a white collar 
separates in front the brown of the upper from the lower part 
of the fore-neck, which is chestnut shading into pale reddish 
