ANSERIFOEMES. 
species are here admitted as referable to this genus, but once more, an 
extraordinary problem in evolution presents itself. Thus, the two species 
have been confounded by every writer and my own decision with regard 
to them is open to argument. The commonest species ranges throughout 
Australia and the islands to the North and East and is considered to be 
uniform in coloration at all growth stages, seasonal changes and sexual 
forms. The other has been concluded to differ in that the male takes on 
a handsome plumage at a certain age and continues this throughout life 
afterward : this species is confined to Australia, south of the Tropics, and 
Tasmania. The female of this species was supposed to differ in no way 
whatever from the male of the preceding. 
I have suggested that in the second species both male and female put 
on the brilliant plumage coloration, but I have not been able to indicate 
how the immature of this form differs from the mature of the other. 
A straggler allotted to the northern genus Querquediila has been 
admitted to the Australian List, but whether it should be included as 
an Australian bird is a doubtful point. I am dubious and would refuse 
it recognition without further confirmation. 
The genus Spatula has a typical representative in Australia, while 
Gould included the northern bird as a straggler, but his specimen was 
lost and none have since been procured. The New Zealand Shoveller 
was recorded by North, but as I consider the New Zealand bird only 
sub-specifically distinct I also conclude that North’s bird was simply a 
well-marked individual of the Australian race. This genus is charac- 
terised by the very long spoon-shaped bill, longer than the head ; other- 
wise, as Sundevall points out, it is a normal Anatine bird. 
Another of the extraordinary Australian Anatine birds is represented 
by the monotypic genus Malacorhynchus. The name indicates the peculiar 
feature. The bill is long and spoon-shaped, as in the preceding, but is 
in addition provided on the sides with a prominent soft membrane. I 
consider that this bird has no direct relationship with the genus Spatula, 
and that the similarity in form of the bills in the two genera is due 
to coincidence, or as it is generally termed, convergence in evolution. 
A quaint feature in the coloration of the bird is the pink spot behind 
the eye, whence the vernacular name Pink-eared Duck. 
The last member of the subfamily Anatinm adds another to the list 
of Australian Duck wonders, for of the genus Stictonetta Salvador! 
comments : “ Systematic position very uncertain.” The genus is mono- 
t3rpic and its distribution is southern Australia. In structure it is not closely 
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