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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 73

Art. VI.—Notes on the Flightless Duck of the Auckland Islands (Nesonetta aucklandica)

Art. VI.—Notes on the Flightless Duck of the Auckland Islands (Nesonetta aucklandica).

I have lately had an opportunity of examining a large series of skins of the small Flightless Duck (Nesonetta aucklandica) collected by Mr. H. H. Travers at the Auckland Islands, to which this species is strictly confined. The sexes in the adult state do not differ much from each other, both exhibiting the delicate reflections on the plumage of the upper surface; but the male may be distinguished by its darker head and neck, by the black under tail-coverts, and by a greater abundance of vermiculated markings on the sides of the body. The young male, as I discovered, has exactly similar plumage to the adult female, the head being of the same brown colour as page 129 the body, with a paler throat. There is likewise an absence of black on the under tail-coverts. The adult plumage is probably assumed in the second year. As with the insects of Madeira, mentioned by me in a former paper, so with this Duck: long disuse has rendered the wings useless for purposes of flight; but, as if to compensate for this, the species possesses the unusual faculty of being able to climb—an accomplishment which no doubt would be of far more advantage to the bird in its rocky habitat, surrounded by the ocean, than the power of flight. I made the discovery by the purest accident. Captain Fairchild, on the return of the "Hinemoa" from her last visit to the Auckland Islands, presented me with a live pair, which I at once placed on the Papaitonga Lake, in the hope that they might breed there. I afterwards purchased a pair from one of the crew, and, being desirous of sending these to Europe, I placed them in a wire enclosure, over 3ft. high, in a secluded part of my garden. I noticed that they at once commenced to scale the perfectly upright netting, falling back into the yard as they neared the top of the fence. Never supposing that they would get over the fence, I left them in the enclosure. In the morning the male bird, being the more robust of the two, had made its escape, and I had little hope of ever seeing it again, there being much close covert in the garden. A few evenings afterwards I found both birds again in the yard, the fugitive having evidently climbed back into the enclosure for the purpose of sharing his mate's food. In the morning he had disappeared again. This continued for about ten days, the bird (which is semi-nocturnal in its habits) skulking and hiding during the day, and coming back in the evening to share the food. When I was ready to ship the Ducks I had simply to visit the enclosure after dusk, and then, catching them without difficulty, they were cooped and despatched to London by the R.M.S. "Tainui."