It moves in companies of from six to thirty, feeding on grasses and aquatic plants, snails, and insects, 

 which it finds in the neighbourhood of the rivers. Its flesh is capital eating. Its voice is a loud barking note, 

 quite unlike the note of any other Goose, and quickly attracts attention. Its disposition is inclined to be tame, 

 though the fact of its resorting to the topmost branches of tall trees in the midst of the bush, reads like a 

 refutation ; as does also its choice of a hollow in a large tree for its nest, the spot chosen being often far from 

 water, and in the midst of dense bush. 



With reference to this bird Archibald Campbell writes in his pamphlet on the " Oology of Australian 

 Birds :" " Egg, light cream colour, surface a little smooth or greasy, nearly oval in form. Two eggs taken from 

 a clutch in Queensland measured (1) two inches three lines, by one inch seven lines and a-quarter ; (2) three 

 inches two and three-quarter lines, by one inch seven lines. Last season a Wood Duck's nest was taken from a 

 dead red gum tree standing in a lagoon, near Sale, Gippsland. The nest, which was composed of a considerable 

 abundance of light coloured down, was three or four feet in from the entrance of a hollow spout. Clutch, nine 

 eggs, two of which were slightly darker in colour than the Queensland example, and measured (1) two inches 

 one line and a-half, by one inch six lines and a-half, and (2) two inches one line by one inch six lines and a-half." 



The sexes differ much in size and the beauty of their plumage, the male being far finer than the female 

 in both respects. 



Head and neck, rich brown ; the mane-like feathers on the back of the neck, black ; chest, upper part of 

 breast, soft grey, each feather having an elongated brown marking ; upper half, light brown ; lower, finely fringed 

 with white, or freckled ; thighs and under wing feathers, finely freckled black and white ; on the breast the apex 

 of a triangular patch of dark brown feathers extending to the vent ; upper part of back, dark grey, changing to 

 brown and black towards the tail ; lesser wing coverts, tertiaries and scapularies, brownish grey ; the scapularies 

 very broadly margined on their external webs with deep velvety black ; lower part of back, rump, upper tail 

 coverts, and tail, deep black; greater wing coverts, dark grey, tipped with white; spurious wing and primaries, 

 very dark brown ; outer webs of secondaries, rich metallic green, broadly margined with white, their inner 

 webs grey ; bill, olive brown ; irides, very dark brown ; legs and feet, dark brown. 



The female has the plumage largely freckled with pale brown cuckoo markings ; the shoulders tipped 

 with black ; the lower part of the back, black ; primaries, brown ; secondaries and greater coverts, tipped with 

 white ; centre of the abdomen and under tail coverts, white. 



Habitats : Derby, North-West Australia, Rockingham Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Dawson 

 River, Richmond and Clarence River Districts, New South Wales, Interior Victoria, South Australia, Western 

 and South- Western Australia. 



