THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
In the same place Mr. G. A. Heartland writes: “The Black Duck 
{Anas superciliosa) is undoubtedly the favourite Duck of our sportsmen, and 
being a strong flier it is able to change its quarters when its food supply 
becomes exhausted in any district. Although Black Ducks sometimes 
make their nests amongst reeds or rushes, they usually lay in hollow 
trees, often a mile or more from water. A friend living at Hedi informed 
me that one used to fly out of a hoUow tree near his track to the gate. 
He watched it until one day he saw the duck had something in its bill 
as it flew to the horse-pond, but soon returned to the nest. He 
concealed himself near the pond, and saw the bird make nine more trips, 
carrying a duckling in its bill each tune. As each little one was dropped 
in the water it dived and swam to the rushes, but as soon as they 
were all away from the nest the old mother called her brood together 
and remained with them.” 
Mr. T. P. Austin also added : “ When nesting in hollow trees they 
do not always fly away when disturbed. I have seen them come to the 
entrance of the holes, and there sit perfectly still with head straight out, 
much the same as they do in hiding when wounded. ... At harvesting 
time they can be heard in the wheat paddocks soon after dark ; wheat 
appears to be their principal food when they can get it, and they seem 
to be able to find it in the paddocks long after the harvesting is finished. 
Nearly all the Black Duck I shot in March had wheat in them, some 
of them great quantities.” 
Berney wrote {Emu, Vol. VI., p. 156, 1907) : “ The bonnie Black 
Duck is, among the aquatic game birds, the most constant resident. They 
nest with us every season, selecting the months January to April for 
the purpose, the most eggs being hatched during March and April, but I 
have a note that I saw a brood of six downy ducklings on 6th June, 1903, 
and I flushed a family of flappers on 2nd September in the same year. 
They do not flock here like Whistlers or Wood Duck, but distribute 
themselves in small parties among the bulrushes and lignum along the 
bore streams, where they can be walked up and make excellent shooting. 
They weigh from 2 to 2J pounds.” 
The determination of subspecies is difiicult owing to the variation 
and the dull coloration, and when Rothschild and Hartert discriminated 
a subspecific form under the name Aims superciliosa pelewensis in the 
Nov. Zool., Vol. XII., p. 248, 1905, they concluded : “ There is no 
doubt that the specimens from the Pelew Islands, Samoa, Fiji, and most 
conspicuously those from the Solomon Islands, are very much smaller 
(wings 1 to 2J inches shorter, bill smaller, etc.) than those from Australia 
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