PLATE XLYIII. 



FAMILY ANATIDCE. 



IX surveying* the birds of the order Natatores some remarkable contrasts are afforded by the 

 preponderance in number of species of some of the groups of the order and the extreme paucity 

 of others of those inhabiting the northern and southern hemispheres, and the present family is a case in 

 instance ; for while at least forty species inhabit Europe, half that number are all that are known in 

 Australia. Of the family Procellaridce, however, while less than ten species are met with in Europe, 

 nearly forty range Australian seas. 



The most important Australian representatives of the Anatidce are the Cereopsis Goose and the 

 Black Swan, while for singularity of appearance the Musk Duck takes precedence of all other members 

 of the family. 



GENUS BIZIURA (Leach). 



OF all the anomalous forms of animal life met with in the Antipodes, none is more so than this 

 genus, of which only one species is known, and so especially different is it from all other members 

 of the family Anatidce, that although Gould, following Bonaparte, placed it next to the genus Erismatura, 

 he believed it to be but seemingly allied to that form. Especially adapted for diving and for procuring 

 its food from the bottom rather than from the surface of the water, this species more resembles one of 

 the Cormorants than any other bird of the order Na tat ores. 



BIZIURA LOBATA. 



MUSK DUCK. Genus: Biziura. 



THIS extraordinary bird is widely distributed over the whole of the southern portion of the Australian 

 continent, and is also met with in Tasmania and the islands of Bass's Straits. 



The most singular feature of the Musk Duck is a wattle-like formation hanedngf from the under 

 surface of the under mandible of the male bird. This appendage is of a stiff and leather-like consistency, 

 irregularly rounded and hanging in folds, and is one inch and a half deep ; and, as yet, the function or 

 use — if it is possessed of any — of this curious lobe has not been discovered. 



Both the male and the female birds, during the pairing and breeding season, possess a powerful 

 musky odour, and the secluded retreat of a pair is by this often revealed ; and when a bird is killed 

 during this particular season it is unfit for food, and the smell of musk is retained for years afterwards in 

 the skin if it be preserved. 



There is much disparity of size in the sexes, the male bird being fully as large again as the 

 female, and although both are alike as regards plumage, the latter has not the lobe attached to the 

 bill of the male. 



