ANAS NAVOSA, Gould.

Freckled Duck.

Anas nevosa, Gould in Proc. Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 177.
Freckled Duck, Colonists of Western Australia.

 

Two specimens of this rare Duck are all that have ever come under my notice ; of these, one is in the
Museum at Sydney, the other in my own collection. The latter was sent me from Swan River, where it was
killed by Mr. Gilbert, who states that even there it is a bird of great rarity, and that neither the natives
nor the colonists appeared to know anything about it. My specimen is a female; the sex of that in the
Museum at Sydney was not ascertained; but in the colour and character of its markings it differs, as far
as I can recollect, little or nothing from the one here represented. A further knowledge of this species
would be highly interesting: it would be especially desirable to know whether the plumage in which
I have figured it is permanent, whether, like most other members of its tribe, the bird undergoes seasonal
changes, and also to ascertain if the speculum of the wing is absent in the male as well as in the female :
until these points are cleared up, I have placed it in that division of true Ducks forming the restricted
genus Anas.

The stomach is very muscular, and contained small fish and minute shells.

The whole of the plumage is dark brown, minutely freckled and spotted with irregular oblong marks of
white in the direction of the feathers; the under surface the same, but lighter and tinged with buff; wings
without a speculum ; primaries plam brown; irides light brown ; bill greenish grey, becoming much darker
at the tip; legs bluish green.

The figure is of the natural size.