FRECKLED DUCK 



STICTONETTA NMVOSA (Gould) 

 (Plate 52) 



Synonymy 

 Anas ncevosa Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1840, p. 177. 

 Tadorna ?icevosa G. R. Gray, List Birds British Mus., vol. 3, p. 132, 1844. 

 Stictonetta ncevosa Reichenbach, Avium Sy sterna Naturae, p. ix, 1852. 

 Stictonetta n&vosa lesueuri Mathews, Austral Avian Record, vol. 1, p. 87, 1912. 

 Stictonetta branda Mathews, Birds Australia, vol. 4, pt. 2, pi. 215, 1915. 



Vernacular Names 

 English: Freckled Duck, Speckled Duck. 

 Aborigines of Victoria: Gnall-gnall. 

 Australia: Monkey Duck, Grey Duck, Gadwall, Canvas-back. 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: The whole head, neck and upper side is nearly uniform dark brown to black, freckled 

 and spotted with buffy or whitish markings. The under surface is of the same character, but much 

 lighter. Wing without a speculum, the wing-coverts and secondaries spotted like the rest of the upper 

 side, but the primaries brown in color and without spots. Under wing-coverts white, irregularly 

 barred with brown; axillars white. 



"Iris light brown; bill greenish grey, becoming much darker at the tip, legs bluish green" (Gould). 

 During the breeding season only, the bill becomes a brilliant red at the base, so Mr. D. Le Souef in- 

 forms me. 



Wing 220-231 mm.; bill 55; tarsus 42. 



Adult Female : Similar to the male but not quite so dark about the head. Size slightly smaller. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The Freckled Duck, which is confined to Australia and Tasmania, is nowhere common. In northern 

 Australia it has been found as far north as the Alligator River (Hartert, 1905). Carter (1904) met 

 with a small flock near Cardabia Pool, in the vicinity of Northwest Cape, and he later met with 

 the species on the Gascoyne River (Carter and Mathews, 1920). It was reported by W. B. Alexander 

 (1921) as resident but rare in the Swan River region. At Moora, in the region about Perth, it is an 

 uncommon bird (Orton and Sandland, 1913). In South Australia it has been found on the Eyre 

 Peninsula (R. Hall, 1910; White, Mellor, in Mathews, 1914-15), about Adelaide and on the lower 

 Murray (Mellor, in Mathews, 1914-15). Captain White says he has met with it in the interior during 

 droughts, and Mr. L. Reese writes me from the Marree district, in the interior, that in some years the 

 species is numerous there. Trezise (1918) says it is fairly plentiful on the lakes near Robe (South 

 Australia) and McGilp (1923) recorded it for the first time in the Lake Frome district. 



In Tasmania it is rare and specimens have been taken very occasionally since 1884 (Legge, 1905; 

 North, 1913; R. Hall, 1924). It is an uncommon bird near Lake Boga, Victoria (A. C. Stone, 

 1912), but North (1913) says he has seen it not infrequently in the Melbourne Market. In New 

 South Wales it is a rare bird, but is known to have bred there (North, 1913; F. C. Morse, 1922). 



