Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/453

Rh and flocks of Oriental Pratincoles. The latter soon left us. In a large mangrove swamp near the Cape, Pelicans, Egrets, Ducks, Mangrove Bitterns, and Waders were in numbers. I secured specimens of Red-capped Dotterel (Ægialitis ruficapilla) and Sharp-tailed Stints (Heteropygia acuminata), which I have never seen on the beach here. Sacred Kingfishers (Halcyon sanctus) were common on the coast in February; they visit us yearly about then: are they migratory? On February 20th natives brought in a Hoary-headed Grebe (Podiceps nestor), which they had caught on the beach. It was very poor, and a sign of bad drought inland. Fortunately this drought broke in March, and between March 10th and date of writing—April 21st—we have had fifteen inches of rain. The inland clay, flat country is flooded and impassable for miles.

At a large gum flat twenty-five miles east of here, which is now full of water, I last month shot, with other birds, the following interesting species:—White-headed Sea Eagle (Haliastur girrenera), Little Eagle (Nisætus morphnoides), Owlet Nightjar (Aegotheles novæ-hollandiæ), Black-eared Cuckoo (Misocalius osculans), Red-browed Pardalote (Pardalotus rubricatus), Variegated Wren (Malurus lamberti), Red-rumped Tit (Acanthiza pyrrhopygia), Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax stictocephalas), Plumed Whistling Duck (Dendrocycna eytoni), Blackcapped Tree-runner (Sittella pileata), Marsh Tern (Hydrochelidon hybrida), Oriental Pratincole (Glareola orientalis). The two latter species were in large flocks at my first visit, and I hoped would breed there, but when revisited a few days ago saw only one Marsh Tern. The Pratincoles were balls of fat. Some Straw-necked Ibis (Geronticus spinicollis) and White-necked Herons (Ardea pacifica) were there, and some Black Swans. Nests of Teal (Nettion castaneum) were plentiful in the hollow gumtrees, with eight or nine eggs. A Red-rumped Kingfisher (Halcyon pyrrhopygius) I shot had several large scorpions in its gizzard.

Last month I was at the Minilya River, and secured specimens of the Red-breasted Babbler (Pomatorhinus rubeculus), and saw a colony of their nests (old) in a large white gum close to the station-house. On July 26th, last year, I found an Osprey's nest with the unusual number of four eggs, all beautifully marked.