THE BIRDS OE AUSTRALIA. 
innermost secondaries glossy-brown ; sides of rump and upper tail-coverts 
minutely spotted with brown and white ; tail glossy-brown ; crown of head 
purpHsh-brown, with pale edgings to the feathers on the fore-head ; throat and 
sides of face pure white ; neck all round white, some of the feathers tipped with 
brown ; a glossy-black collar on the fore-neck, green on the hind-neck where it 
is divided from the back by a white band ; sides of body and flanks minutely 
speckled with grey and white ; breast and abdomen pure white ; under tail- 
coverts tipped with black or blackish-brown ; axiUaries and under wing-coverts 
bronzy-green. Bill black ; iris brown ; feet greenish slate-colour. Total length 
354 mm. ; culmen 25, wing 176, tail 64, tarsus 27. 
Adult female. Distinguished from the adult male chiefly by the absence of the broad 
white bar on the primaries, the secondaries more narrowly tipped with white, and 
the white on the hind-neck divided by a narrow hne of dark brown. Total 
length 315 mm. ; culmen 23, wing 168, tail 64, tarsus 27. 
Young female. Differs from the adult female in being brown above, barred with brown 
and white on the upper mantle and sides of neck, a dark loral streak which extends 
behind the eye, under wing-coverts brown edged with white, sides of the body 
pale brown, and the under tail-coverts pure white. 
Two specimens obtained in the winter (July) have the entire back purpHsh-brown. 
I imagme this to be the winter plumage, but the material at hand is not sufficient 
to prove it. 
Nest. “ A hole in a tree.” 
Eggs. Apparently the only authentic egg yet known is one taken from the oviduct of 
the bird and described by North thus : “ Oval in form, and of a faint creamy-white 
colour, the text of the shell being very fine and smooth to the touch but without 
any gloss. Length 1.79 X 1.4 inches.” 
Breeding-season. Undetermined. 
I HAVE been unable to trace any record of the life history of this bird, the 
only two notes I have seen reading : — “ Whilst Nettopus pulchellus is most 
common on the west of the Northern Territory, the White-quilled Pygmy 
Goose is more numerous on the Queensland side. Near Charters Towers 
they breed regularly. Mrs. Chas. Clarke, of Maryvale Station, informed me 
that one of the station natives took a clutch of sixteen eggs of this species 
from a hole in a tree, only a few feet away from the nest of a Common Teal, 
in which he found six eggs. Both species are found on some of the swamps 
of the Northern Territory of South Australia.”* 
“ One of the birds had its nest in the spout of a gum tree, about seventy 
feet from the ground, in my garden at South Grafton, and, from what I 
remember, there were seven or eight young ones which she carried out in her 
bfll after they were hatched. The spout almost overhangs a small creek. 
I recollect a young one falling out of the nest into the water, but it swam 
away unconcerned. I know of other nests in trees about our swamps. 
* Keartland, Austr. Mus. Spec. Gat, no. 1, Vol. IV., p. 59, 1913. 
f Wilcox in CaimpheWs Nesta and Eggs, Vol. II., p. 1020, 1901. 
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