146 
EDWARDS, Wild Ducks of NS.IV. [™ e t §3." 
pale cream-colour in tint, almost hidden in an envelope or cushion 
of soft drab-grey down. When the sitting bird was absent in 
quest of food some down was invariably drawn over a small 
opening in the cushion, so that the eggs might escape the keen 
eyes of Crows, Hawks, and other avian enemies. Rut from the 
keen-scented fox this device would avail nothing. 
Although the Sheldrake still occurs on Monaro, the '‘Moun¬ 
tain Duck” is growing rarer year by year in that quarter. In 
former years I have counted thirty or more of these regal birds 
— the burnished green of their wing coverts flashing in the sun- 
grouped about springs on the wide, black-soil plains of Monaro. 
The young, I think, are brought early to the ground from the 
nesting hollows, and thus become an easy prey of foxes. The 
“Red Duck,” Shoveler, Pink-eared Duck and Whistling Tree- 
Duck never—so far as I am aware — nest on the Monaro high¬ 
lands. The “Wood Duck” (Maned Goose), though still com¬ 
mon, is not so numerous there as in earlier years. Somewhere 
about the middle eighties of last century I observed these birds 
in great flocks on damp green levels about Gelantipy Station, 
North Gippsland, Victoria, one or more birds, after the habit of 
Geese, when in flocks, standing sentry on elevated ground near 
the assemblage of silvery-grey birds. The flocks occurred among 
timber, and at a considerable distance from any permanent 
water. 
That most destructive and perfectly useless animal, the Euro¬ 
pean fox, is playing havoc annually among the young of wild 
Ducks, preying also on their eggs and upon the adult birds, which 
latter are often successfully stalked by this cunning marauder. 
It is high time, in the opinion of the writer, that a price should 
be set by the Legislatures of the States upon the scalps of foxes, 
which may be bracketed with the domestic cat gone wild as 
being the two most destructive agencies to which many of our 
most useful insectivorous birds are now exposed. 
The Garganey Teal (Qucrquedula qucrqiicdula ). — A pair of 
these beautiful birds, kindly lent by Mr. Wm. Shaw, was ex¬ 
hibited by me at the Field Naturalists’ Club of Victoria in March, 
1889. The birds were obtained at Lake Connewarre, near 
Geelong. Subsequently I noticed a similar specimen in the 
National Museum, Melbourne. In recalling the matter recently 
to the Curator, Mr. J. A. Kershaw, F.E.S., he was good enough 
to show me the specimen which is mounted. It was presented 
by Mr. Chas. Hooper on 3/10/81, and was obtained at Lake 
Colac. In connection with the preparation of the Check-list, it 
is interesting to find that three specimens of this wandering 
species'have been collected in a small State like Victoria, the 
inference being that others must occur occasionally in various 
parts of Australia. — A. J. Campbell,, H.F.A.O.U., Box Hill, 
Victoria. 
