240 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
GENUS AYMENOLAMTUS. 
This genus is represented, as at present ascertained, by 
one single species. 
BLUE DUCK, SOFT-BILLED DUCK. 
(Hymenolemus malacorhynchus.) 
This rare bird was represented in 1876 by a single 
specimen presented to the Zoological Society of London, by 
the Acclimatization Society of Melbourne, but unfortunately 
only lived a short time. In May, 1884, two other pair were 
received from the Acclimatization Society of Canterbury, New 
Zealand. It is fully described in Sir W. Buller’s work on 
“The Birds of New Zealand,” to which I am indebted for the 
following information. It is stated to inhabit the mountain 
streams in which that country abounds, and is usually found 
near the torrent heads, allowing itself to be approached without 
evincing signs of fear. Although possessing the large feet and 
lobed hind toe of the Pochards it seldom dives, usually swim- 
ming with the current. The nest is placed occasionally in a 
burrow, but is also found hidden among the luxuriant ferns 
and flowering plants, which, as Sir W. Buller observes, lend 
to the country its peculiar beauty and luxuriance. The eggs, 
usually five in number, are hidden in the down with which 
the duck covers them. The food of the Blue Duck appears 
to consist chiefly of soft larvae, the stomach of many specimens 
examined, being found to be full of the worms of the caddis, 
which abound in the pebbly creeks, all divested of their 
coatings, a fact clearly proclaiming the use of the fleshy 
membrane with which the bill is furnished. 
Male.—General plumage pale slate-blue, darker on the 
upper parts; crown of head and upper wing-coverts glossed 
with greenish ; breast spotted with dark chestnut ; eyes bright 
