Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/451

Rh species, which shows how carefully one should work in new country. It is of very sprightly, inquisitive habits, constantly uttering its pleasant liquid warbling note from earliest dawn until dark. It has a harsh alarm-note, and is quick to sound it on the approach of a dog, hawk, or biped, and all within hearing will hurry up to help the first bird to scold.

The second week in July I paid a visit to the nearest gum creek that contains good pools of water, in search of nests (the eggs being then undescribed), and was fortunate in finding five—three with a clutch each of two eggs, one with two newly hatched young, and one ready for laying. The nests were of light construction, of fibrous roots and grass, mixed and lined with vegetable down and sheeps' wool, and suspended about three feet from the ground, either in the dense prickly acacia bushes, or sort of large salt bush that grows round water holes there. In the rushes surrounding these pools were nests containing eggs of the Blacktailed Tribonyx (Microtribonyx ventralis).

About February 14th, last year, some flocks of White-fronted Chats (Ephthianura albifrons) arrived here, but only stayed a few days. It is the first time they have come under my notice. Keartland's Honey-eater (Ptilotis keartlandi) was fairly common on the high country behind the range, but I found no nests. I may mention that a skin of this bird was sent by me from here to Melbourne in 1890 for identification; but it was not until 1895 that Mr. Keartland secured specimens, when it was recognized by Mr. North as a new species.

On July 28th one of my men went to Frazer Island in the boat, and returned with more than two hundred eggs, all fresh, of the Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius). They were a welcome addition to our meals for some days. The nests are built in thick, spreading bushes, with large, soft, greenish grey leaves, that grow only on the edge of the sea.

In August, White-eyed Crows (Corvus australis), Kestrels (Tinnunculus cenchroïdes), Brown and Rufous Larks (Cinclorhamphus cruralis and rufescens), Tri-coloured Chats (Ephthianura tricolor), Brown Hawks (Hieracidea occidentalis), Pipits (Anthus australis), Singing Honey-eaters (Ptilotis sonora), and Grass Parrakeets (Melopsittacus undulatus) were breeding numerously. I visited a new nest of Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis), but it contained