PLATE III. 



GENUS NETTAPUS. (Brandt) 



THIS is a purely tropical genus, and contains four known species ; one in Africa, one in India, and two in 

 Australia. 



NETTAPUS PULCHELLUS. (Gould.) 



GREEN PIGMY GOOSE. Genus: Nettapus. 



fTlHIS pocket edition of the Goose family is most interesting, as muck from its great beauty as from the fact that it 

 unites in its structure the character and disposition of the two previously known species, Nettapus Coroman- 

 delianus and Nettapus Madagascariensis, which vary considerably on these points. The form of the head and 

 the elevation of the upper mandible prove its close identity with the Goose, but its largely webbed feet argue it 

 to be strictly aquatic in its mode of life, a contradictory point that was proved by the evidence of Gilbert, who 

 succeeded in shooting a pair at Port Essington. They were swimming in a quiet secluded lake, shut in on all 

 sides by high grass ; he killed both at one shot, which was a piece of rare good fortune, as they are extremely 

 shy birds, and at the slightest hint of alarm dive and remain under the water for a considerable time. Added to 

 this they are by no means plentiful about the Peninsula — Gilbert having only succeeded in obtaining one prior 

 to this. In dissecting the female he found a nearly developed egg in the ovarium, a circumstance which led him 

 to search the neighbourhood for a probable nest, and soon found one built in the long grass about a foot above 

 the water, the bottom of the nest resting on the surface ; it was made of long dried grasses, slightly hollowed to 

 receive the eggs, but was quite destitute of any lining. One found subsequently by the natives and brought to 

 him was lined with feathers, and contained six white eggs, one inch and seven-eighths long by one inch and three- 

 eighths broad. 



A later authority, Archd. J. Campbell, makes the eggs slightly larger, his measurements being one inch 

 ten lines and a-half, breadth, one inch four lines and a-half. 



Mr. Gregory's experience of the Pigmy Goose is decidedly opposed to Gilbert's. During his expedition 

 " this elegantly symmetrical water-fowl was only found in the Sherlock River. It is remarkable for its tameness 

 and for its light and sportive movements in the water. It was seen in flights of eight or ten together." 



The sexes closely resemble each other, though there are some noticeable variations of plumage. 



The male has the head greenish brown, barred indistinctly with yellow ; patch of creamy white below 

 the eye ; neck, back, and wings, deep metallic green ; feathers of the chest, sides, and back of the neck, white 

 with fine greenish black concentric circles ; flanks and tail coverts, the same only more decidedly marked ; tail, 

 black glossed with green ; under surfaces, dirty white ; under tail coverts, black ; irides, dark brown ; bill, dark 

 greenish grey ; legs and feet, blackish brown, with a greenish white nail ; under mandible, greenish grey, 

 blotched with a lighter colour, 



The female has the top and back of the head and a stripe down the back of the neck, dark brown ; there 

 is no white spot beneath the eye ; the chin and upper part of the throat, white mottled with brown ; bill, soft 

 grey with a yellowish base ; lower mandible, bluish grey ; tarsi, fleshy white on the sides, back and front blackish 

 brown ; feet, dark brown. 



Total length, twelve inches and a-half. 



