PIED GOOSE. 
‘‘ April 20, 1909. These birds have not bred freely this year : the rains 
were late and the grass and reeds did not grow long enough in the swamps 
to provide good cover. Are in very large flocks at present. 
“ Nov. 20, 1911. Cooper’s Camp, Melville Island. To-day four of these 
birds passed over my camp, the first seen here. 
“ Dec. 30, 1911. At my camp on the north side of the island many flocks 
passed over every evening and were fairly numerous on the large swamp up 
to this date. 
Jan. 13, 1912. No flocks seen for the past few days. 
Jan. 14, 1912. I had a long trip through the big swamp to-day : was 
out about ten hours in a canoe and only saw two single birds ; these birds 
are said to breed in this swamp, but I consider that only a few stragglers do 
so. Too many crocodiles in it in the wet season for many breeding 
waterfowl.” 
Though first described from the Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, 
it had disappeared from that locality before Gould’s time (1838-40). It 
is now very rare throughout southern-eastern Australia, as Mr. J. W. Mellor 
writes me : “ These geese were at one time found in South Australia on 
lakes Alexandrina and Albert, and other swampy localities, but 1 have 
not seen or heard of them being here for years now.” 
HaU, writing about the Ducks of the Murray River {E^nu, Vol. IX., 
p. 79, 1909) states : “ Is a grass feeder. In 1902, the great drought year, 
farmers in this locality poisoned them because they were feeding almost 
entirely on the growing crops. Up to 1902 I knew them to be annually in 
thousands. Cultivation has driven them away for good, so far as present 
generations are concerned.” 
Stone records the same tale {Emu, Vol. XII., p. 121, 1912) from Lake 
Boga, Victoria : “ Aboriginal name ‘ Gnak.’ Very rare. In 1892 hundreds 
of these geese could be seen at any time with very little trouble. \I saw 
15 shot with 3 barrels of a 12-bore.” He amplified this in the E7nu, Vol. XIII., 
p. 83, 1913 : “ Then one’s attention would be drawn to a string of Pied Geese 
[Anseranas 7nelanoleuca) ‘ Gnack,’ passing almost overhead from one reed- 
bed to another, ‘ honk-honking ’ as they went. Thousands were to be seen 
with little trouble, and they nested in the snake-infested reed-beds at some 
seasons. They were unsuspicious birds, and could be easily shot. Settlement 
has driven them far away and it is years since I saw one in the district.” 
In the north of Australia, however, these wonderful birds still numerously 
exist, thus Le Souef noted {E^nu, Vol. II., p. 159, 1903) : “ These birds are 
plentiful in the Northern Territory (Port Darwin District), where they have 
not been much disturbed by man.” 
29 
