Page:The Emu volume 9.djvu/297

 to cream. The feathers of the forehead and crown are very small and dense, and the spots small and very numerous and of a light hazel-brown colour, but half-hidden in a wash of silvery tint, which somewhat reminds me of burnished tea-lead. On the lower margin of the pink nuchal patch is an arrow-shaped mark of black. This, though small, is very conspicuous when the male is displaying before the female. The under parts agree with previous descriptions. Beak black, the upper mandible being rather conspicuously longer than the lower. The angle of the gape, in both adults and young, yellow; iris deep brown; legs and feet yellowish-green (this colour fades altogether in the skin). Much elated with my prizes, I returned to camp, blew my eggs, and skinned and dissected the female. Whilst thus engaged two Bower-Birds actually perched in the casuarinas overhead. I then returned with the camera, photographing the nest in situ, and also the patch of scrub containing the nesting-tree.

I had yet to deal with the party at the clay-pan. On 1st November I camped at an intervening well, the weather being very hot and dry. I was destined to meet with a great disappointment with this party. As I feared, the birds had deserted the locality. The water in the clay-pan had quite evaporated, evidently soon after my last visit. The nest I had based my hopes upon had progressed no further. I spent the greater part of the day hunting the surrounding scrubs, and I think I did the work thoroughly, but without success. The only Bower-Bird I saw was an adult male at the play-ground.

My work was now nearly finished. All small birds except Tæniopygia had finished breeding, and I began to think seriously of home. I left Milly Pool for Wiluna a few days later.

, M.D., Ch.M., Principal Assistant Microbiologist, Government Bureau of Microbiology, Sydney, N.S.W.

The following results of the examination of the stomach contents of 57 birds may prove of interest. They are from specimens collected for scientific purposes by myself in 1909. In addition to an investigation of the food supply of birds, the skins were also, of course, preserved, the intestines and tissues were searched for parasitic worms, and blood-films made and examined for protozoa, such as Halteridium. A summary of the interesting discoveries in the latter two directions it is hoped will be available shortly. The utmost possible scientific use has, I believe, been made of every specimen of bird thus obtained.

I desire especially to thank W. W. Froggatt, Esq., F.L.S., and J. H. Maiden, Esq., F.L.S., whose results so materially enhance the value of this paper, for their kindly assistance and cooperation.

M,, followed by a numeral, indicates the number of the bird