34 SPATULA RHYNCHOTIS 



found on November 7 (Potts, 1871) though Buller (1905) speaks of some birds that 

 hatched out their broods near his place for three years, the time of hatching being 

 late November. 



From the nests hitherto described I should say that they present no peculiarities. 

 They are loosely constructed and placed in the grass near the water, or occasionally 

 on the open plain. One nest found in Australia was in the top of a hollow stump of 

 a dead box-tree, the eggs resting on the decaying wood (North, 1913). The clutch 

 varies in number from seven to eleven, the maximum recorded being thirteen 

 (Buller, 1888). The eggs are creamy white in color, faintly tinged with green 

 (North, 1913). The measurements of twenty eggs cited by North average 51.56 

 by 37.34 mm., the lengths varying from 49.5 to 55.4 and the widths from 36.1 to 

 38.6 mm. 



Status. Reference to the distribution will show the general rarity of this duck. 

 It is said to have decreased from a fairly plentiful to a scarce species in the Ulmarra 

 Swamp region, New South Wales (Savidge, in North, 1913), and I presume its 

 decrease in Australia has been general. One of my correspondents from the interior 

 of South Australia does not even mention it. Potts (1871) says that the markets of 

 Wellington, New Zealand, used to receive many from Hawke's Bay, but that in 

 recent years this supply has failed. On the other hand he thought the species more 

 common than formerly in the South Island, on Lake Ellesmere and the mountain 

 lakes of the Ashburton country. 



Enemies. Nothing known beyond what has been said under the Australian 

 Black Duck. 



Damage. None recorded. 



Food Value. The flesh is not always first-class, and is generally rated as some- 

 what inferior to that of the Australian Black Duck or the Teal (Gould, 1865; White, 

 in Mathews, 1914-15; North, 1913). Mr. Charles Barrett writes that in Victoria it 

 is favored as a table bird and the "poulterers' shops" sometimes have good supplies. 



Hunt. An interesting note on primitive methods used by the Queensland abo- 

 rigines for taking this and other species of ducks is quoted by North (1913) from a 

 letter received from Dr. W. E. Roth. "Ducks and cranes may be caught with 

 sticks, etc., in the nesting season, by sneaking upon them unawares. The natives 

 of the upper Georgina River, and in the Boulia district, noose ducks with a long 

 slender stick, to the extremity of which a feather quill with slip-noose is attached. 

 The hunter, well concealed with bushes tied around his head and face, waits 



