Page:The Emu volume 9.djvu/247

 (Phaps chalcoptera).—Very common when the hot weather set in, in October, at Milly Pool. They came to drink in dozens at sunset, and later on, as the country dried up, I often flushed them from under shady bushes.

(Ocyphaps lophotes).—A few around Milly Pool, and near a clay-pan, prior to its drying up, some seven miles away. I noticed they came to drink at any time of the day. In flight their wings produce a peculiar whistling noise. In point of speed they do not approach the common Bronze-wing.

(Microtribonyx ventralis).—A pair or two at Milly Pool, but no signs of nests.

(Ægialitis ruficapilla).—Fairly common on the margins of the lagoons comprising Lake Violet. I shot a pair for identification. They both showed signs of early breeding, but I did not trouble to hunt for the eggs of such a common species.

(Peltohyas australis). —As I met with this species at Lake Austin, I looked forward with a certain amount of confidence to not only seeing it again but to finding its eggs. I had been at work just a week before I encountered the first pair. They were feeding amongst the samphires growing on the margin of an arm of the largest lagoon in Lake Violet. Four days later, and some two miles away, I came across a flock of quite twenty. Under the circumstances I felt justified in dissecting a single bird to ascertain as near as possible the probable date of their breeding. I judged I must wait fully three weeks before I could expect eggs. I determined, therefore, to keep watch, without disturbing them more than was absolutely necessary. On 19th August I was on the same samphire flat again, and after searching it carefully I saw a single bird running away to the left in a rather suspicious and suggestive manner. If I stood still she would halt too and watch me. On my moving nearer to the point from which she appeared to have run, she tripped a little further away, always keeping an eye on me. Feeling sure I was near the nest, I made a mark and commenced a systematic search around it. She halted on a little eminence and watched me silently. After a quarter of an hour's patient hunting, to my great delight I caught sight of the three brown eggs, half-covered with flakes of sun-baked clay. Had they been entirely covered I might easily have missed them, so closely did they assimilate to the dark ferruginous soil on which they lay. The black markings on these eggs being small renders them much less conspicuous than the more boldly marked eggs of other allied species. The nest was a very shallow depression, probably scratched out by the parent bird, and had no lining of any kind whatever, the flakes of mud being probably added after the eggs were laid. Surrounding the nest were a few pieces of white quartz and nearly black ironstone. The only vegetation was a sparse growth of stunted samphire, the tallest sprays of which did not exceed 6 inches in height. After packing the eggs, I turned my attention to the female. She had not moved from her point of vantage I walked towards her, and she ran for a few paces as before, but now she gave utterance to a low note resembling the syllable "Kr-root," the r being uttered in rather a guttural manner. There was no sign of the male bird. Next day, after blowing these eggs, I returned to the nest, and, replacing them, with the flakes of clay, as nearly as possible as I found them, I photographed them in situ. Much to my disappointment, this was the only nest of these rare eggs I found. I visited the locality again and again, and often encountered the main flock, but, despite much searching, all was in vain. I can only surmise that, the species being resident, many pairs may breed during the summer rains, when insect life is so much more abundant in these interior regions. No doubt beetles and such creatures form a large proportion of the diet of these interesting birds. When feeding a flock keeps in open order and one or other is constantly on