44 MALACORHYNCHUS MEMBRANACEUS 



Gait, Swimming, Diving. Nothing characteristic recorded. 



Flight. The flight is described by Gould (1865) as very rapid, but there is no 

 further information concerning it. The fact that it was once called "Whistling 

 Duck " may have reference to a noise made by the wings. These are not social birds, 

 and are usually seen in pairs or in small flocks of four or five. Gould (1865) noted 

 flocks numbering from six to twenty, and Berney (1907) speaks of twenty-five as the 

 greatest number he ever saw. Mr. Charles Barrett writes me that occasionally fairly 

 large companies are seen in Victoria. The same is true for New South Wales, Moree 

 district (F. C. Morse, 1922). 



Association with other Species. These ducks probably associate very little 

 with other kinds, least of all in the breeding season, for their nesting habits are 

 peculiar. Sometimes they mix with Teal. 



Voice. Like the true Shovellers this species seems to be rather silent. At any 

 rate its voice has never been properly described, although Berney (1907), speaking 

 of a flock feeding, says they "kept up a subdued running conversation in their soft 

 musical notes." In a letter to me Mr. Barrett of Victoria says that they are favorites 

 with bird lovers, who delight in watching them and listening to their "musical 

 whistling notes." 



Food. No study of the diet has been made. The food probably consists largely 

 of very minute animal matter. Le Souef (Berney, 1907) found in the stomach of one 

 specimen vegetable matter and fresh-water shells. 



Courtship and Nesting. The Pink-ear may nest at any time of the year, 

 though in southeastern Australia the months from August to December constitute 

 the chief breeding season. Like other Australian ducks they usually breed when a 

 long drought is broken by floods. Nests have been found in July and in April, and as 

 late as January (Ramsay, 1876; North, 1913). 



So far as known this little duck always chooses an elevated position for its nest. 

 Many of those hitherto described have been placed on the abandoned stick nests of 

 ibises and herons and in those of gallinules, coots or even hawks or crows. They 

 seem to be particularly fond of nests of the Straw-necked Ibis (Carphibis spinicollis) 

 usually placed in polygonum swamps or in high-rush swamps. In such places they 

 pad the rough nests with their own down. They also nest in hollow trees, sometimes 

 twenty to thirty feet above the water, or on top of stumps standing in the water. 

 I have a photograph sent me by Mr. Charles Barrett of a nest-hollow in a large 

 "canoe tree" about three feet above water in a flooded part of the Murray River. 



