202 Bird-Song : and New Zealand Song Birds 
Family: Anatidae 
Casarca variegata the paradise duck putangitangi 
The paradise duck, which is really a species of goose, is 
common in the mountainous districts of the South Island.' I 
have seen this bird on the waters of the Blue Lake, a lagoon 
lying between the lateral moraine of the Tasman Glacier and 
the precipitous slopes of the Mount Cook Range. The lagoon 
was partly bordered with Alpine shrubs, partly open, with 
banks of tussocks and Mount Cook lilies. It was fed by a 
brawling glacial stream; and on a sunny day, with a light 
mountain breeze swaying and ruffling the tall, graceful lilies, 
the environment seemed a perfect setting for the beautifully 
plumaged birds, the drake with black head, neck, and breast, 
back black with graceful pencillings of white, and abdomen 
brownish with black pencillings, and the duck with white 
head and neck, and brownish body. It is always in pairs, and 
when seen on the Blue Lake one might suppose the bird to have 
been named from the beauty of the locality as much as from the 
beauty of its plumage A 
The cry of the duck is quite different from that of the drake, 
varying in pitch, sequence, and tempo as in (I) to (4). The 
note has almost the quality of a clear human cry, more 
especially as regards (3). It is uttered both when the bird is 
at rest on the ground and when on the wing. The cry of the 
drake is as (5) to (7). The sound .may be very nearly repro¬ 
duced with a piece of paper and a comb. The quality of all 
was alike, but in (5) there was an overtone distinctly audible; 
nawp^Lt^ 0 / 6 is written in the past tense, for the Blue Lake has since 
r ■ 0 exis ence. There are many changes in these wild mountain- 
fn? nljr n 0n ?r gra<1 " a1 ’ so “ e sudden ; the Blue Lake has been admired 
llt fl e a C rl !7 ; r ” ay rea PP ear > beautiful as ever; it may be 
* foi all time, like the pink and white terraces of the thermal regions. 
