^ESTS AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. ggy 



lu " Thcj Argus," during 181)3, reference was made to a pathetic ballad 

 by Mrs. Foott, ot Queensland, entitled " Where the Pelican Builds Her 

 Nest." This gave rise to interesting correspondence, exploding an 

 error, apparently popular in parts of Queensland, that the Pelican only 

 builds " in the mysterious di'ought-stricken solitudes of the ' Never- 

 Never ' country, ' and proving (as was well known to ornithologists) 

 that the Pelican breeds by the sea as well as in the interior, or wher- 

 ever the circiuustances are favourable for food, &c. 



Mr. John Phelps wrote : " I saw nests on the islands in the Bool- 

 aboolka and Ratcatcher Lakes, fifty miles east of Menindie, Darling 

 River, on Tolamo and Albemarle stations. 



'' Boolaboolka (or Boolo Boolka) is a native name, literally meaning 

 ' Pelican Lake.' It was on an island in that lake that I first saw a 

 Pelican's nest in 1879. At that time the yoiuig birds were suffering 

 from a parasite (similar to a sheep tick, but smaller), wliich attached 

 itself to the inside of the pouch and throat. I have caught young birds 

 (half-gi'own) on the nest, and opened the beak, when the ticks could be 

 seen adhering to the throat." Pelicans were breeding in the Boola- 

 boolka in the autumn of 1894. 



Another correspondent wrote : " Any time in Ihc season on Coongy 

 station. Cooper's Creek, South AustraUa, on a small low island on the 

 Coongy Lakes, hundreds of Pelicans are to be foimd hatching their 

 young. . . . The eggs are so rank that even the blacks will not 

 eat them, although they are very fond of the yovmg bii'ds, and obtain 

 great numbers of them just before they are fully fledged." 



Mr. B. H. Purcell stated that the natives (Walliunbooroo tribe) of 

 Northern Temtoiy call the Pehcan " Walliunberry,' and that a, neigh- 

 bouring tribe (Worku) call it " Wallumbooi-oo," bvit Mr. Piu'cell 

 diminishes the value of his otherwise interesting contribution by stating 

 that the Pehcan lays up to a dozen eggs. The maximiuu is only three. 



PeUcans usually lay during September, October, and November, but 

 they occasionally breed in autumn. They did so on Pelican Rock, 

 Westcniport, 1864, and at Boolaboolka, River Darling, 1894 ; and I am 

 informed that lumch-eds were breecUng in April on Turtle Island, 

 between Lacepede Islands and Cossack, West Australia. ^ 



I shall conclude my somewhat scattered obseivations on the Pelican 

 by giving a reahstic account of an outing " After PeUcans' Eggs," kindly 

 wi-itten for me by Mr. John W. Mellor, an enthusiastic collector in 

 South Australia : " My brother and I left Adelaide on the 18th Sep- 

 tember, 1894, en route for the Coorong. (The Coorong is an arm of 

 the sea half-a-mile to a mile wide, separated from the ocean by a 

 narrow strip of sandliills running parallel with the coast line for about 

 loo miles.) We took train to Lake Alexandiina, and then boarded a 

 steamer and crossed over to the other side. Here we got into pos- 

 session of a small boat, and neither of us being used to rowing, we 

 found it rather heavy work in pulling, but in this way we proceeded up 

 Lake Albert and disembarked at ' Narnmg ' station, about six miles 

 down the lake. From this point we were obliged to take ' sliank's 

 pony,' and a nice httle walk we had of about 100 miles, which took a 

 considerable time to accomphsh, as we had to carry our knapsacks and 



