An Australian Bird Book Part 18

Swans, Geese, and Ducks, the Swimming Birds grouped in Order XIII., are all cla.s.sified in one family, though there are many sub-families.

At the head of the Australian birds is the Black Swan--that _rara avis_ which, possibly, has done more to advertize Australia than any other Australian animal or plant. A "black" swan was an "impossibility," so this bird was one of the strongest factors in establis.h.i.+ng Australia's reputation as a land of paradoxes and contradictions.

The Black Swan is well known outside Australia, as it is common in every park and garden in Europe. Gould feared that it would be exterminated here, but fortunately Australians are now learning to appreciate their own land, and there is no danger of such a calamity.

Eight species of Swans are known to occur all over the world with the exception of New Zealand and Africa.

In the next sub-family there is but one bird--the Semipalmated Goose of Australia. This bird, better known as the Magpie Goose, has its feet but half-webbed, hence its specific name, _semipalmata_. It is getting rare, though I heard of six near Colac recently.

Again, the only living representative of the next sub-family is the Cape Barren Goose, which is common in city gardens in Adelaide. It is also becoming rare. It is found only in Tasmania, the Ba.s.s Strait Islands, and Southern Australia. We visited its nesting place near Flinders Island. It is a very pugnacious bird, so it is difficult to keep with other birds.

After the Goose sub-family comes the group which includes our "Wood Duck," or, as it is called, the Maned Goose, for its bill is goose-like. It is a common bird in Australia. Two allied genera are found in South America and North-east Africa respectively.

In the next sub-family come the domestic Ducks and most of the wild Ducks of Australia. This group is often referred to as the "Freshwater or River Ducks."

First come two kinds of Whistling Ducks--so called on account of their whistling note uttered while flying. These are rare Ducks, one of which is found as far as India; the other is occasionally seen in New Zealand, as well as in Australia. The Sheldrake, or s.h.i.+eldrake (Mountain Duck) is the largest Australian Duck, and one of the most handsome of the sub-family. It is nowhere very plentiful, though one or more pairs appear in most suitable localities. As it is unfit for the table, it should be spared as an ornament to the landscape.

The Black Duck is very similar to the common wild Duck (Mallard) of England. Our Black Duck does not change color with the season, nor is the male different in color from the female.

The Australian Teal is closely similar to the Teal of Europe. It is a gra.s.s feeder, and is a good table bird. The female is very different from the male. It is impossible to distinguish the male Gray Teal from the female Teal when in the free state. Mr. Keartland (ex-President of the Field Naturalist Club, and ornithologist to the Horn and Calvert exploring expeditions) has shown that there is a big difference in weight. The male of the smaller Gray Teal is not brightly colored like the male Chestnut-breasted Teal.

The remarkable Shoveller comes next. It is closely similar to the English Shoveller. Strange that this name was first used for the Spoonbill. The Shovellers are found the world over. The males are very brightly colored in the nesting season.

Unlike most other birds, Swans and Ducks lose the whole of their wing feathers at once when moulting, so that for a short time they cannot fly. As a protection, the gaudy ones acquire a quiet, inconspicuous coloration for a time, so that the male is said to get an "eclipse plumage." Many other birds get a bright dress for the breeding season only, but the male Duck wears his bright dress for the whole year, except in the moulting period. It is then "eclipsed," with the corresponding advantage that he is protected from his many enemies at a time when he is most helpless.

The remarkable Pink-eared Duck has no close relative. It has a small pink spot between the eye and ear, and so is called pink-eyed or pink-eared. It is found only in Australia. The female is similar in color to the male. The name Wigeon, or Widgeon, sometimes applied to this Duck, properly belongs to another of the fresh-water Ducks which is not found in Australia. Hence, this name should not be used for our bird.

Another peculiar Australian Duck is the Freckled Duck. It is a very rare bird. One taken on the ornithologists' excursion to Eyre Peninsula was considered a prize. So far as is known, it does not change color with the season, nor has the male or female the usual bright metallic patch seen on the wing of a Duck.

The "Salt-water Ducks" form the next sub-family. These Ducks, though, are not always true to name, for they are not confined to the salt water. The Victorian representative is the well-known White-eyed Duck, or Hardhead. This Duck was common on the Botanic Gardens Lake, Melbourne, until it was emptied some time ago. Thus, our one "Salt-water Duck" was often seen on fresh water. In the same sub-family come the Eider-Ducks of Iceland and the Logger-head, Racehorse, or Steamer Duck, of Magellan Straits, which is said to lose the power of flight on reaching maturity after the first moult. Thus the life-history tells us that this bird is a degenerate form, and not a primitive flightless form, for it has evidently descended from flying ancestors. It uses its wings to row itself along at great speed.

The ninth sub-family of this group of swimming birds contains two native Ducks. The Blue-billed Duck, the first of these, is "especially adapted for immersion and for obtaining its food from the bottom of the water rather than on its surface." It was thought by Gould to be confined to the coastal lagoons of Western Australia, but it has since been recorded from inland in Victoria, and four specimens have been taken in Tasmania. It remains under the water for a considerable time, and, if hunted, flaps along the surface with its short wings, but hesitates to exercise its "feeble grebe-like flight."

Some writers declare that the large Musk Duck is the most remarkable of the many remarkable birds of Australia. It is the only known species of the genus, and is "singularly different from every other member of the Duck family," as Gould points out. Gould further says that "this extraordinary bird reminds one of the Cormorants. Like many other of these antipodean forms, it must be regarded as an anomaly."

The male has a lengthened, stiff, and leather-like appendage under the bill. The female is without this pouch, and is but half the size of the male. A pair is often to be seen on a sheltered bay or on an inland dam, and yet this bird has very feeble powers of flight. It is difficult to cause one to take to flight. Mr. A. J. Campbell summed up an instructive discussion on this point in the columns of _The Australasian_ by concluding that Musk Ducks can fly, though they do so almost entirely at night.

[Page 62]

[Ill.u.s.tration: [126] [127] [128] [129] [130]]

ORDER XIII.--ANSERIFORMES.

F. 58. ANATIDAE (21), SWANS, GEESE, 206 sp.--39(30)A., 50(9)O., 68(10)P., 41(21)E., 56(11)Nc., 70(39)Nl.

1 1

=126 Black Swan=, _Chenopsis atrata_, A., T.

[~126 _Chenopis atrata._]

Stat. c. _lakes_ 40

Black; white on wing; very long neck; f., sim. Plants.

[Page 63]

1 1

=127 Pied Goose= (Magpie, Black and White, Semipalmated), _Anseranas semipalmata_, A., T.

Stat. v.r. _water_ 32

Head, neck, wings, lower-back, tail, thighs black; rest white; feet half-webbed; f., sim. Gra.s.s.

1 1

=128* Cape Barren Goose=, _Cereopsis novae-hollandiae_, V., S.A., W.A., T., Ba.s.s St. Is.

Stat. v.r. _gra.s.s_, _coast_ 33

Brownish-gray; dark spots on wing; bill black; naked skin round bill lemon-yellow; legs pinkish; toes, webs, streak up front of leg black; pugnacious; f., sim. Gra.s.s.

1 1

=129* Maned Goose=, Wood-Duck (e), _Chenonetta jubata_, A., T.

Stat. c. _water_ 20

Crown deep-brown; tail, lower-back black; metallic green on wing; breast gray spotted black; hind-neck short black plumes; white patch on wing; bill olive-brown, high, goose-like; f., smaller; duller; breast spotted white. Gra.s.s, snails, insects.

2 9

=130 Whistling Duck= (Tree), _Dendrocygna arcuata_, Ind., Malay to Cel., Mol., N.G., A., Oceania.

Stat. r. _water_ 17

Crown, upper brownish-black marked lighter; chin whitish; breast deep-buff, spotted black; abdomen chestnut; under base tail white; whistles when flying; f., sim. Water-plants, fish.

[Page 64]

[Ill.u.s.tration: [131] [132] [133] [134] [135]]

=131* Plumed Whistling Duck= (Eyton Tree), _D. eytoni_, A., T., N.Z.

Stat. r. _lagoons_ 16