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or horse-shoe hand of yellowish white, similar to the markings on the breast of the Shoveller. There is also 
a manifest difference in the size of the birds from different localities. 
A specimen in my collection (marked $ ) has the whole of the face and throat stained, and the white 
of the underparts strongly suffused, with chestnut-brown ; the speculum on the wing indistinct, the feathers 
being outwardly edged with brown. 
An example obtained from the Wairarapa Lake, and presented by me to the Colonial Museum, is much 
larger than ordinary examples, and presents some peculiar markings in the plumage. There is a broad 
irregular patch of white on the lower part of the fore neck ; the .speculum on the wings is nearly obliterated, 
the secondaries being dull white on their outer webs, while their coverts have a broad terminal band of pale 
brown and white. The two outer primaries in one wing, and the second and third in the other, are entirely 
white. There are likewise some eccentric markings on the feathers of the crop and sides of the breast. These 
individual peculiarities may be due to hybridism, possibly the result of a cross with the Domestic Duck. 
Another, which I likewise presented to the Colonial Museum, is a partial albino received from Marl- 
borough. In this specimen the primaries and secondaries in both wings are almost entirely white in 
their apical portion; a broad band of white meets the upper margin of the speculum; the wing-coverts are 
irregularly barred with white, and some of the scapulars are entirely white. 
My eldest son, during a shooting-excursion to Ngapuke, in the Hawkers Bay district, saw on several 
occasions a pure albino among several hundred of the Grey Duck, and remarked on its large size and 
swiftness of wing. It was very shy and he was unable to get a shot at it. 
Obs. The sexes arc alike in plumage, but differ slightly in size. In well-plumaged birds the light margins on 
the wing-coverts form crescentic loops, like fine network. 
Hybrid. More recently (in March 1885) my son shot at Wainuiomata, near Wellington harbour, what is 
undoubtedly a hybrid. It is a fine bird, and weighed in the flesh 3 lb. 9 oz. 
This specimen combines in a very pronounced way the characters of the two species to which it owes 
its parentage. On dissection it proved to be a female. Careful measurements before the bird was skinned 
gave the following resnlt : — Extreme length 34‘5 inches ; tail 4 ; bill, along the ridge 2, along the edge of 
lower mandible 2'25; tarsus 1'75; middle toe and claw 2'5. The crop was widely distended with the seed-vessels 
of some cyperaccous plant. The following is a description of the plumage : — Head, neck, and breast the same 
as in the male parent bird, except that there is a broad patch of pure white on the chin, and another, two inches 
wide, crossing the fore neck immediately above the breast ; underparts generally uniform brownish black ; 
small w'ing-coverts exactly as in the parent bird, with marginal crescents ; speculum broad and black with 
steel-blue reflections at the base, margined on both sides with white, which is continued on the secondaries, 
being more or less mixed with grey ; quills black, the first two in both wings w'hite ; lining of w'ings white ; 
mantle, back, rump, and upper tail-coverts black, the whole of the back having a bluish gloss ; tail-feathers 
brownish black ; bill (which is large and broad like that of the Domestic Duck) greyish black, wdth a 
darker nail ; under mandible dull yellow marked with brown ; legs and feet dull orange-yellow, the inter- 
digital webs brownish black, marked irregularly with bright yellow towards the outer edge, as so commonly 
seen in the domestic bird. 
When shot it was in association with a male of Anas superciliosa and two well-grown young birds. 
Common in every part of our country, the Grey Duck ranges over the whole of Australia as well, and 
is found also in some of the Polynesian islands. I found it extremely abundant at the Chatham 
Islands ; and. it is said to occur on Norfolk Island also *. 
* In my former edition I treated Anas sandwiehensis (Boiiap. C. E. xliii. p. 049, sine diag.) as a synonym of this species ; 
and in my Introduction to the present work (page Ivi) I have extended the range of our bird accordingly. But my attention 
has since been directed to Dr. Sclater’s more recent differentiation of that species under the name of Anas wijvilUana (Proc. 
Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 350). 
Mr. Layard writes of Anas superciliosa (Ibis, 1882, p. 537) : — “ This is the common Duck of the country (in New 
Caledonia), being found on all our marshes and rivers when not too much persecuted by sportsmen and pot-hunters ; it also 
frequents the sea-shore and islands within the circling reef. It breeds inland, generally on the mountains covered with niaoulic- 
forest near some damp spot, either a rivulet of water or a little swamp, but is especially careful to place its rough loose nest 
above the reach of a chance inundation.” 
