Page:The Emu volume 4.djvu/89

 handsome little bird from Cromarty, on the coast, and Sellheim on the Burdekin, but cannot get them to live long.

Black-throated Finch {Poephila cincta).—Common all over district. Have seen them catching and eating white ants {termitcs), the winged ones, any time after heavy rain. They seem to enjoy a feed of ants.

Gouldian Finch (P. gouldiæ).—Common in the season, December to May. They breed here in holes in the various trees. They leave after the young ones are able to feed themselves. They seem to go northward.

Crimson Finch (Neochniia phaeton).—Not common, though often to be seen in pandanus flats.—JOHN H. SMEDLEY.

—Referring to Mr. A. W. Milligan's "Trip to the Wongan Hills" (Emu, Part I., vol. iv.), the White-tailed Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchis baudini) occurs plentifully on the lower Murchison River, as mentioned in the opening remarks of "Birds Occurring in the Region of the North-West Cape" (Emu, part 1, vol. iii.), that is, 200 miles further north than the Wongan Hills, which locality Mr. Milligan gives as the northern limit of this species. I can confirm his remarks that further north of the Wongan Hills his east and west limits of many species will not apply, as Glycyphila albifrons and Acanthiza uropygialis occurred right down to the coast line at Point Cloates, which is nearly 200 miles further west than these hills. Mr. Milligan has apparently used the word "eastward" in mistake for "westward" where he remarks that the Darling Ranges form "an insuperable barrier to their eastward movements" (i.e., his ultramontane species). A more probable theory is that the great difference in vegetation (affecting the food supply) between the east and west sides of the Darling Ranges makes these hills a natural boundary for many species, as there is nothing whatever in their formation to prevent birds of feeble wing power crossing them. Were the vegetation the same on both sides of these hills there would probably be no difference in the species of birds occurring east and west of them. In conclusion, referring to Mr. Milligan's description of the supposed new Kestrel (Cerchneis unicolor), a glance at a map of this State will show that it is misleading to speak of Yalgoo as being in the north-west, as it is only 300 miles north (by east) of Perth and is hardly even a central district, but naturally belongs more to the south-west. Kestrels were numerous from the Gascoyne River to the Ashburton River in the north-west, but although I am now unable to refer to the collection of skins made by me in that district, I am very positive that they were all referable to the common form (C. cenchroides), and in my long residence there no Kestrel was ever observed to attack poultry. Any information extending the range of the new species will be extremely interesting.—. Perth, W.A., 30/7/04.