NOTOPHOYX. 29 



Mr. H. G. Barnard sent me the following note from Bimbi, Uuaringa, Queensland :—" The 

 I'acilic Heron breeds on trees growing in swamps, the tree being dead as often as not ; the nests, 

 which are bulky stick structures, are placed at various heights from the water. I have found 

 them on small dead saplings eight feet above the water, and again in trees fully fifty feet up. 

 These birds breed in companies, several nests being built close together. They usually lay four 

 or five eggs." 



From Copmanhurst, on the Upper Clarence River, New South Wales, Mr. George Savidge 

 wrote me :— " The Pacific Heron (Notophoyx pacitiia) is sparingly dispersed in pairs and singly 

 along the course of the Clarence Kiver as high up as Copmanhurst, where it is a decidedly 

 scarce bird. The large swampy tracks of country below Grafton are, however, more congenial 

 to its habits. The few nests I have found were all isolated ones ; I have never seen or heard 

 of it breeding in colonies in this district, and I have only once found it breeding near 

 Copmanhurst. The nests I saw at the rear of Ulmarra were platforms of coarse sticks, lined 

 with finer ones, generally placed high up on a lofty outspreading branch of a Eucalyptus, and 

 four eggs are usually laid fur a sitting. It is a wild and solitary species, and the very first bird 

 to rise and leave a swamp on the approach of man. The nests I obtained during September 

 and October." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Tlios. P. Austin wrote me under 

 date iSth November, 1909:— "The White-necked or Pacific Heron (Notophoyx pacifica) in 

 habits is totally different to N. iwvte-hollanduv, for it only visits this district in suitable seasons, 

 and is only to be seen in shallow swamps, lagoons, etc. Sometimes the birds are here in fairly 

 large flocks, but go to other parts for the breeding season. I have only seen this species nesting 

 upon one occasion, and contrary to what I believe is usually the case, this nest was in a small 

 Red Gum tree. The nest was placed upon the lowest branch of all, only about fifteen feet 

 above the water, and the tree was growing in a swamp in the Armatree District, New South 

 Wales, in October, 1909. In the same tree there was also a nest of Platihis flavipcs with two 

 young just hatched, and about half a dozen nests of Phalacnicomx inelanolcuciis. Only a few yards 

 away there was another Red Gum with one nest of Platihis _flavipei, with three young just 

 hatched, and many more nests of P. inclaiiolciicns, also old nests of (Innetiis andax and Haliintni' 

 sphenunis with young." 



Mr. Robert Grant, Taxidermist to the Australian Museum, has handed me the following 

 note:— " I have found the Pacific Heron ( Ardea pacifica) m nearly every part of New South 

 Wales I have visited, especially in the Macquarie Marshes and Budda Lake, near Trangie, 

 but nowhere plentiful. Once when collecting I shot one of these Herons, and on dissecting it 

 found it contained a partially digested and almost full grown Water Rat [Hydvoinys chvyio^^^astei' j. 

 On another occasion I took a young duckling from one of these birds, and have frequently found 

 in them small fish, crayfish, lizards, grasshoppers, etc. Once, when in Scotland, I shot a Heron 

 (Avdca cmci'ca), and on dissecting it found it to contain a half grown Moor Hen (Gallinnla 

 ihloiopHs). I therefore belie\e that every species of Heron may swallow any young bird or 

 mammal that it is able to get down its gullet, but whether it kills or picks them up dead I do 

 not know." 



Mr. G. A. Keartland sends me the following note from Melbourne, Victoria : — " The Pacific 

 Heron is generally solitary in its habits, but occasionally it congregates in large Hocks. I have 

 frequently seen a single bird catching yabbies in a waterhole near my fence. It wades in the 

 shallow water or walks round the margin until its wants are supplied, and then flies off. Were 

 it not for the fact that I know several birds have been shot at this pool, I might regard it as 

 being the same one repeating its visit. On one occasion I saw over one hundred Pacific Herons 

 all perched in some scrub near the Yarra. They have a wide range, and are to be found in all 

 the States. In some of the large shallow swamps at Milton, Morang and Heidelberg, Victoria, 

 the long white neck of this Heron is conspicuous among the rushes." 



