ANAS N^EVOSA, Gould. 
Freckled Duck. 
Anas ncevosa, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 177. 
Freckled Duck, Colonists of Western Australia. 
Two specimens of this rare Duck are all that have ever come under my notice; of these, one is in the 
Museum at Sydney, the other in my own collection. The latter was sent me from Swan River, where it was 
killed by Mr. Gilbert, who states that even there it is a bird of great rarity, and that neither the natives 
nor the colonists appeared to know anything about it. My specimen is a female ; the sex of that in the 
Museum at Sydney was not ascertained ; but in the colour and character of its markings it differs, as far 
as I can recollect, little or nothing from the one here represented. A further knowledge of this species 
would be highly interesting : it would be especially desirable to know whether the plumage in which 
I have figured it is permanent, whether, like most other members of its tribe, the bird undergoes seasonal 
changes, and also to ascertain if the speculum of the wing is absent in the male as well as in the female : 
until these points are cleared up, I have placed it in that division of true Ducks forming the restricted 
genus Anas. 
The stomach is very muscular, and contained small fish and minute shells. 
The whole of the plumage is dark brown, minutely freckled and spotted with irregular oblong marks of 
white in the direction of the feathers ; the under surface the same, but lighter and tinged with buff ; wings 
without a speculum ; primaries plain brown ; irides light brown ; bill greenish grey, becoming much darker 
at the tip ; legs bluish green. 
The figure is of the natural size. 
