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] [Illustration: [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. Grass. 1 1