Obdee AlfSERES.] 
[Fam. ANATID^. 
MEEGUS AUSTEALIS. 
(AUCKLAND-ISLAND MEEGANSER.) 
Mergus australis, Hombr. & Jacq. Ann. des Sci. Nat. 1841, p. 320. 
Ad. brunneus, plumis dorsalibus cinereo lavatis ; alis caud4que brunneis, tectricibus alarum majoribus noiinullis 
albo maculatis : secundariis quoque interioribus extus albo notatis ; pileo cnstato colloque undique ru e- 
scenti-brunneis, gutture clariore rufescente: pectore et abdomine medio albis, scbistaceo variis, corporis 
lateribus saturate scbistaceis, plumis singulis cinereo limbatis : plumis axillaribus pure albis ; rostro nigri- 
canti-brunneo, versus apicem saturatiore : pedibus rufescenti-brunneis. 
Adult male. Head, crest (wbicb is t^yo inches long), and the entire neck reddish brown, paler on the throat and 
lower part of fore neck; entire upper surface dull brownish black, the feathers more or less edged with 
slaty grey, especially on the shoulders ; in place of the speculum there is a broad angular patch of pure 
white on the secondaries, and a few rounded spots of white on their coverts; breast and middle of abdomen 
fulvous white varied with grey ; sides of body, flanks, and under tail-coverts dark slaty grey, with paler tips, 
and the long feathers overlapping the thighs slightly mottled with white; axillary plumes pure white ; 
primaries and tail-feathers blackish brown. Bill reddish brown, changing to black on the culmen and at 
the tips of both mandibles; legs and feet reddish brown. Total length 20-5 inches; wing, from flexure 
7-5 ; tail 3-5; bill, along the ridge 2-3, along the edge of lower mandible 2-7; tarsus 1-5; middle toe and 
claw 2-75. 
Female. Dilfers from the male in having no crest, and in the greyer colour of the head and neck. 
Of this species, Baron von Hiigel writes (Ibis, 1875, p. 392) “ I procured a pair of Mergansers 
with a few other skins in Invercargill, from a man who had just returned from a surveying tiip to 
the Auckland Islands. He had not even turned the skin after taking it off the body ; but as soon as 
I saw the back through the opening, and felt the beak through the skin of the neck, I knew what I 
had I have compared this Mergus with the original description of Mergus australis in 
the ‘ Voyage of the Astrolabe’ ; from it I judge that either the description is a very poor one, or my 
two birds must belong to a new species. But what agrees well, and made me first think they were 
an immature pair of birds, is the lower surface of the body, which, instead of being white, as in 
M. serrator, is of a dull slaty grey, variegated with white bands (the feathers being edged with white). 
The whole plumage is very dark, approaching black on the back, the crest well formed, and the size, 
I fancy, considerably smaller than the British Eed-breasted Merganser {M. serrator). From the great 
difference in size and brightness of colouring in bill and feet, I deem them to be male and female ; 
but in plumage there is little difference. The birds were killed the latter end of November last ; and 
I procured them on the 27th of the following month. 
My collection contains a single example (a female), and there is another, of the same sex, in the 
British Museum. My description of the adult male is taken from the Baron s specimen in the 
Cambridge University Museum, which was courteously lent to me by Professor Newton. 
