Birds of Celebes; Anatidae. 
873 
“Iris brown; bill green-black; feet light brown-yellow” (cf, Maros, Waterfall, 
S. Celebes, 24. n. 78, Platen — 0 5383). 
Sex. The sexes are similar in coloration. The black frame enclosing the wing-speculum is 
perhaps less sharply defined in the female; in this specunen the greater wing-coverts 
are broadly edged with pale brown, the tertiary adjacent to the speculum edged with 
olive, the secondaries terminally edged with white, though next the speculum black 
(9, Lake Posso, 12. II. 95: P& F. Sarasin). 
Measurements (3 adults from Celebes). Wing 240— 262 mm; tail 85—95; tarsus 43—45; mid. 
toe c. 58; exposed culmen 49 — 51 mm. 
A specimen from Java (?) has: wing 260, one from Austraha 250 mm. 
Count Salvador! says specimens from Timor, the Pelew, Fiji and Samoa Islands 
are decidedly smaller than those from Australia and !J7ew Zealand. 
Young in down cf. Puller 9. 
Eggs. “Somewhat paler than those of the common Aims boscas, otherwise perfectly similar” 
(Nehrkorn MS.). Up to 10 in number, dull creamy white, 63.5 X 40.6 mm (Puller 9). 
Nest. Of dry grass, flags, etc., lined with the bird’s own down, placed on forks of trees, or 
chffs, or in herbage on the ground (Puller 9, Eamsay 10). 
Distribution. Celebes: — North (in Dresden Mus.), Central (P.& F. Sarasin), South 
(Platen); ?Sumatra (Yorderm. 11); Java (Poie, Junghuhn 4); Lombok (Everett 
IS); Sumba (Riedel 6]\ Timor (S. Muller 4, Wallace 6, 16)\ Moluccas Puru 
(H. 0. Forbes IS); Papuasia — New Guinea, New Hanover, Solomon Is., Santa 
Cruz Is. (cf. Salvador! S, 12, IS); Australia and Tasmania (Gould IZ, Ramsay 8, 
etc,, IS); Polynesia — New Caledonia (Verreaux, Layard 14); Loyalty Islands? 
(Layard 14); New Hebrides (Layard 14); Pelew Is. (Tetens, Kubary 14); Fiji Is. 
(Peale, Graffe, Layard 5, 14); Tonga Is. (Peale, etc. 5, 14); Samoa Is. (Peale, 
etc. 5, 14)- Society Is. (Peale, Wodehouse 5, 14); Lord Howe Id. and Norfolk 
Id. (Ramsay S); New Zealand and Chatham Is. (Puller, etc. 9, 16). 
The two specimens of the Australasian Wild Duck from Celebes in the 
Dresden Museum and the one in the Sarasin Collection are the only ones as 
yet on record from the island. The credit of its first discovery there belongs 
to Dr. Platen, whose collections included the fine male described above, which 
was killed at the Maros Waterfall in the South. A second specimen is labelled 
“N. Celebes, 1883”; it was received from a dealer with a piece of the label 
(probably bearing the collector’s name) clipped off — why, we do not know. 
In 1895 this Duck was found by the Sarasins on their arrival at the southern 
end of Lake Posso in Central Celebes ; they write : “Small flights of two species 
of Duck, the large Anas superciliosa and the small Anas gihherifrons were plentiful 
here; we managed to kill four of them at one shot . 
Anas superciliosa is very abundant in New Zealand, where its habits are 
interestingly described by Sir W. Puller. It is a shy bird, as well it may be, 
when we read of seven thousand — though not all of this species being 
caught by the Maories on one lake in three days; that is, when they had shed 
their quills and were incapable of flight. Dr. L. P- Ramsay records it fiom 
all the great divisions of Australia, and it is known from most of the island- 
o'roups of Polynesia. In the Moluccas, curiously enough, it has been recorded 
onlv from Bum. It seems to be most nearly related to Anas luzonka Fraser 
^ * 110 
Meyer & Wiglesworth, Bir^ of Celebes {Dec. 13th 1897). 
