NETTAPUS PULCHELLUS, Gow.

Beautiful Pygmy Goose.

Nettapus pulchellus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., November 9, 1841.
Loon-byte, Aborigines of the northern coast of Australia.
Little Goose, Residents at Port Essington.

 

Tue acquisition of an entirely new species of Mettapus, a generic name applied to these Pygmy Geese by
M. Brandt of St. Petersburg, is not one of the least valuable results of the exploration of the northern
coast of Australia; independently of its great beauty, the present species is interesting, as uniting most
completely, in the character and disposition of some of its markings, the two previously known species,
NV. Coromandelianus and N. Madagascariensis, which differ very considerably in these points. Although very
goose-like im the form of its head and bill, particularly in the elevation of the upper mandible, its largely
webbed feet indicate a strictly aquatic mode of life; and in the notes accompanying the two specimens shot
at Port Essington by Mr. Gilbert, he states that he first saw a pair of these beautiful birds on the 16th of
January, swimming on a quiet secluded lake, shut in on all sides by very high grass: both of these he suc-
ceeded in killing at a shot ; he further states that they are rare in the Peninsula, only one specimen having
been procured prior to his obtaining these two. It is an extremely shy species, and at the slightest movement
of anything near it, dives and remains under water a long time. Having, on dissecting the female, found a
nearly developed egg in the ovarium, he was induced to seek for the nest, which he found built up in the long
grass about a foot above the water, the bottom of the nest resting on its surface; it was composed of long
dried grasses, slightly hollowed for the reception of the eggs: the nest in this instance was destitute of any
kind of lnmg; but one afterwards brought him by the natives was lined with feathers and contained six
eggs, which are white, one inch and seven-eighths long by one inch and three-eighths broad.

Since the receipt of Mr. Gilbert’s specimens another has been kindly sent to me by Mr. Bynoe, making
the fourth that has been obtained ; beyond this nothing further is known respecting it.

The male has the head brownish green, indistinctly barred with light brown; beneath the eye an oval
spot of white; neck, back and wings deep glossy green; primaries black ; outer webs of the secondaries
snow-white; feathers of the chest, sides and back of the neck white, with a number of greenish black circles
one within the other, so numerous that the white is nearly lost ; flanks similarly marked, but in them the
circles, bars and pencillings are broader and more apparent ;_ tail black glossed with green ; abdomen white ;
under tail-coverts black; irides dark brown; bill dark greenish grey ; legs and feet blackish brown, with
a yellowish white nail; under mandible greenish grey, irregularly blotched with a lighter colour.

The female resembles the male, but differs in having the crown, occiput and a stripe down the back of
the neck deep brown; in being destitute of the white spot beneath the eye; in having the chin and upper
part of the throat white, mottled with small markings of brown; bill French grey, becoming more yellow
at the base ; lower mandible bluish grey; tarsi fleshy white on the sides, back and front blackish brown ;
feet dark brown.

The figures are those of a male and a female of the natural size.