hing disagreeable noise, which, however, was far less
unpleasant than the mildewy odour with which they filled the air, calling
to mind the exclamation placed by our immortal bard in the mouth of
Trinculo. The heavy flap of the leathern wings of these monkey-birds, as
the men called them, was singular, while sometimes a flight would darken
the verdure of a bamboo, which, yielding to their weight, bent low, as if
before a passing gust of wind. To fix themselves appeared always a
difficult, and was certainly a noisy operation, each apparently striving
to alight upon the same spot. They first cling to the bamboo by means of
the long claw, or hook attached to the outer edge of the wing, and then
gradually settle themselves.

The river swarmed with alligators. Fish also abounded; and in the salt
water, a kind commonly known in the river Plate by the name of Cat-fish,
is plentiful. One that we caught was of the enormous weight of twenty
pounds. A large kind of dark bream of excellent flavour was taken in
fresh water.

WOOD-DUCKS.

Many of the reaches also swarmed with wildfowl, consisting almost wholly
of ducks, which, from a habit of perching on the trees, have received the
name of wood-ducks. They were very different and far superior in plumage
to those found on the south-eastern parts of the continent, and as they
have not yet been numbered among the Australian birds so vividly
described by Mr. Gould, we may venture to be somewhat minute in
describing them.

They are inferior in size to the common European wild duck, but are
marked in much the same manner on the breast. The back is a dark brown,
while the wings, still darker, are slightly bronzed at the tips. Their
singularly long legs are of a pale flesh colour, while the web on the
foot is very much arched near the toes, giving greater pliability to the
foot and a power of grasping, which enables them to perch on trees. The
head and bill, the latter of a pale ash colour, are both large. When on
the wing they make a peculiar though pleasing whistling sound, that can
be heard at a great distance,* and which changes as they alight, into a
sort of chatter. Their perching on trees is performed in a very clumsy
manner, swinging and pitching to and fro. We subsequently often found
them on the rivers on the North coast, but not within some miles of their
mouths or near their upper waters, from which it would appear that they
inhabit certain reaches of the rivers only: we nev