AUCKLAND ISLAND DUCK 



NESONETTA AUCKLANDICA G. R. Gray 

 (Plate 51) 

 Synonymy 

 Nesonetta aucklandica G. R. Gray, Genera of Birds, vol. 3, p. 627, 1844. 



Vernacular Names 

 English: Auckland Island Duck, Flightless Duck. 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Head and upper neck very dark gray with a sprinkling of iridescent green feathers at 

 the back of the head and on the nape. Lower neck, mantle and scapulars brown with a green gloss, 

 many feathers having wavy black and brown lines. Back and rump dark brown with a green gloss; 

 tail black. Breast distinct chestnut-color fading into whitish and grayish on the abdomen. All the 

 lower side is covered with indistinct blackish spots. Flanks barred like the scapulars and at the base 

 of the lateral tail-coverts is an indistinct whitish patch. Under tail-coverts blackish. Wing dark 

 brown without a speculum. Secondaries greenish on the outer web and tipped with whitish. Prima- 

 ries very short and dark brown in color. Under wing-coverts brown and white, axillars brown and 

 white. 



Iris, according to Buller, dark hazel. Bill blackish brown. Tarsus and feet reddish brown. Ac- 

 cording to Ogilvie-Grant (1905b) the iris is dark brown, bill slaty gray and legs and feet yellowish 

 brown with the webs darker. 



Wing 127-144 mm.; bill 40; tarsus 35. 



Adult Female: Much smaller than male but similar in a general way. The head has no green and 

 the throat is whitish. The upper surface is brown with less green luster and no narrow black and 

 brown bars. Crop region not so red as in male and under tail-coverts brown and not black. 

 Wing 125-130 mm.; bill 37; tarsus 31. 



Young Mate : Exactly like the female. Gradually some green appears on the back of the head, some 

 barring on the mantle and scapulars and the under tail-coverts become darker. 



Young est Down : "The general colour is dark olivaceous-brown, fading to pale fulvous-brown on the 

 throat and fore-neck, and to dull fawn-colour on the breast and abdomen. There is a purer shade of 

 dark-brown passing through the eyes and melting away behind. The rudimentary wings have an 

 outer fringe of yellowish-brown; the produced filaments on the shoulders and mantle are of the same 

 pale colour. The bill is dark-brown, with the terminal shield and the whole of the under mandible 

 yellowish-brown. Legs and feet olivaceous-brown, the webs being darker; claws, yellowish-brown" 

 (Buller, 1905). 



DISTRIBUTION 



This flightless species is confined to the Auckland Islands, where it is not uncommon (Buller, 1888; 

 Ogilvie-Grant, 1905b; Hutton and Drummond, 1905; Waite, 1909). 



