THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Stokes’s notes reproduced by Gould are here again printed, as they have 
never been much augmented. “ Many of the reaches,” says Captain Stokes, 
when speaking of the river Adelaide of the north-western part of Australia, 
“ swarmed with wild-fowl, consisting almost wholly of ducks, which, from a 
habit of perching on the trees, have received the name of Wood Ducks. 
Their singularly long legs, with the web very much arched near the toes, 
gives great pliability to the foot and a power of grasping, which enables 
them to perch on trees. When on the wing they make a peculiar, pleasing, 
whistling sound, that can be heard at a great distance, and which changes 
as they alight into a sort of chatter. Their perching on trees is performed 
in a very clumsy manner, swinging and pitching to and fro. We sub- 
sequently often found them on the rivers of the north coast, but not 
within some miles of their mouths or near their upper waters, from which 
it would appear that they inhabit certain reaches of the rivers only : we 
never found them in swamps. The farthest south they were met with was 
on the Albert River, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, in lat. 18° S., which gives 
them a range of six and a half degrees of latitude over the northern part 
of the continent. These ducks are the Leptotarsis eytoni of Mr. Gould.” 
Sturt’s comments read : “ This new and fine bird was first shot on 
Strzelecki’s Creek by Mr. Browne, and was subsequently seen by me in 
considerable numbers on Cooper’s Creek. Its range was not to the west- 
ward, nor was it seen north of the Stony Desert. I believe I am wrong in 
stating that the first was killed at the place above-mentioned ; for, if my 
memory does not deceive me, we had already secured a specimen at the 
Depot. . . . Under ordinary circumstances, we might have fared well 
on this duck at Cooper’s Creek, but it was so wild as to keep out of our 
reach, being evidently hunted by the natives of the creek.” 
Leichhardt notes how the natives hunt this duck. 
Mr. Tom Carter states : “ This was a common species in the North- 
west, notably in the record wet year of 1900, when countless numbers 
were on the flooded flats east of Point Cloates. I shot many birds.” 
Mr. J. P. Rogers has written me that on March 14, 1902, he observed 
a female of this species with eleven young ones, associated with a duck of 
Anas superciliosa with eight young, and a duck of Nyroca australis with 
six young on Jimbaloora Swamp, North-west Australia. 
Berney {Emu, Vol. VI., p. 156, 1907) has recorded from North Queens- 
land : “ The Whistler, as it is always called, is to be seen commonly 
during the summer, and less so from May to September. Although other 
Ducks may be seen more frequently, D. eytoni holds pride of place for 
numbers, for I have seen a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty 
70 
