Order ANSERIFORMES 
No. 271. 
Family ANATIDuE. 
ERISMATURA AUSTRALIS. 
BLUE-BILLED DUCK. 
(Plate 217.)* 
OxYTJRA AUSTRALIS Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1836, p. 85 ; Swan River, West 
Australia. 
Oxyura australis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1836, p. 85 ; id., Synops. Birds Austr., 
pt. n., pi. 36, 1837 ; Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 239, 1912 ; id.. List 
Birds Austr., p. 94, 1913. 
Erismatura australis Eyton, Monogr. Anat., p. 172, 1838 ; Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus., 
pt. m., p. 146, 1844 ; id.. Genera Birds, Vol. III., p. 627, 1844 ; Gould, Birds 
Austr., Vol. VII., pi. 17, 1844 ; Reichenbach, Synops. Av. Natat., pi. 78, figs. 
902-3, 1845 ; Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Sci. (Paris), Vol. XLIII., p. 652, 1856 ; 
Gould, Handb. Birds Austr., Vol. II., p. 379, 1865 ; Gray, Handl. Gen. Sp. Birds, 
pt. III., p. 90, 1871 ; Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Vol. I., pp. 196, 220, 1877 ; 
id., ib., Vol. II., p. 200, 1878 ; Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.) 1880, p. 530 ; 
Ramsay, Tab. List Austr. Birds, p. 22, 1888 ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., no. 12, 
p. 346, 1890 ; Heine and Reichenow, Nomencl. Mus. Hein. Orn., p. 349, 1890 ; 
Bennett, Ibis 1891, pp. 143-5 ; North, Rec. Austr. Mus., Vol. II., p. 37, 1892 ; 
Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVII., p. 451, 1895 ; Hall, Key Birds 
Austr., p. 108, 1899 ; Mathews, Handl. Birds Austral., p. 36, 1908 ; Littler, Handb. 
Birds Tasm., p. 227, 1910 ; Stone, Emu, Vol. XII., p. 121, 1912 ; Orton and 
Sandland, ib., Vol. XIII., p. 76, 1913 ; North, Austr. Mus. Spec. Cat., no. 1, 
Vol. IV., p. 92, 1913. 
Clangula {Oxyura) australis Selby, Cat. Gen. Subgen. Aves, p. 47, 1840. 
Biziura australis Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Vol. VI., Anseres, p. 11, 1866 ; Giebel, Thes. 
Ornith., Vol. I., p. 467, 1872. 
Oxyura australis victories. Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., p. 87, 1912 ; Victoria. 
Oxyura australis australis Mathews, ib. 
Range. New South Wales ; Victoria ; Tasmania ; South Australia ; West Australia. 
Adult male. Upper-surface, breast, and sides of the body rich chestnut-brown becoming 
darker and inclining to black on the rump and upper tail-coverts and long 
scapulars which are vermiculated or barred with buff ; tail pale chestnut-brown ; 
quills also dark chestnut-brown paler on the inner webs ; entire head and neck 
glossy black ; breast and abdomen dusky brown with buff or silvery white tips to 
* The Plate is lettered Oxyura australis. 
138 
