Note 93 — Chapter VIII

There are at least nine species of duck-like birds in New Zealand. The four specially cited by Cook are probably classified as follows, in the order mentioned by him: Fuligula novœzelandiæ, the New Zealand scaup; Anas superciliosa, the New Zealand mallard; Hymenolæma malacorhynchus, the celebrated "Blue duck" of New Zealand (though it is not strictly speaking a duck but more related to the slender-billed merganser and smew); Nyroca australis, the Australian pochard. The remaining five species are the New Zealand ruddy sheldrake (Casarca), a tree duck (Dendrocygna), a shoveller (Spatula), and two teal (Elasmonetta and Nettion). But New Zealand once possessed black swans like those of Australia, and a huge flightless goose (Cnemiornis) like the existing Cereornis goose of Australia, and a musk duck (Bizuira). But all these became extinct long before the white man came on the scene.