XENORHYNCHUS. 49 



against the points of the other's wings, advance their iieads till they nearly meet, and both 

 simiUtaneousiy clatter their bills like a couple of watchmen's rattles. This display lasts for 

 nearly a minute, after which one walks a little apart, to be followed after a moment by the other, 

 when they repeat the amusement, and so on perhaps for a dozen times. . . . Watching them 

 closely through the glasses from little more than one hundred yards, I discovered that they 

 never actually touched each other, and after a dozen or more such flutterings they all rose and 

 Hew quietly away." 



Dr. W. Macgillivray sends me the following notes relative to the Cloncurry District, 

 North-eastern Queensland : — "Thejabiru (Xciiorliyiiclins nsialicnsj is an occasional visitant to 

 various parts of the district. It is always a very wary bird, and keeps to fairly open situations 

 on a waterhole, where it can have a good view all round. My brother, the late Mr. .\. S. 

 Macgillivray, when travelling to Cape York from Cloncurry, in April, 1877, found a nest of this 

 bird on Iftiey Station, near Spear Creek ; it was a large structure made of sticks, and built in 

 a Coolibah. Two eggs taken from it were left at Iffley Station ; what became of them 

 subsequently is not known." 



Later Dr. Macgillivray sent me the following note of Mr. W. McLennan, made on the 17th 

 June, igio, while on his way from Cloncurry to the Gulf of Carpentaria: — "I rode down the 

 river to a Jabiru's nest, and climbed up and e.xamined it. It was fifty-five feet from the ground, 

 in a big river Gum, loosely built of sticks and twigs, lined with tufts of grass and the paper-like 

 bark of the Tea-tree, about five feet across by three feet in depth, egg cavity three feet across 

 by eight or nine inches in depth. It contained a young one. The young bird was about three 

 feet six inches high when standing, and had a spread of wing of nearly five feet. Wing and 

 tail feathers greyish-white, breast well feathered white, back well feathered greyish-brown, neck 

 covered with greyish-brown down, head covered with daric brown down, bill blackish, iris brown, 

 legs and feet faint greyish-pink. The young one was quite annoyed at being disturbed, and 

 made a loud clacking noise with its bill, occasionally giving a deep guttural grunt and making 

 vicious dives at me, none of which I might say reached their mark, as I had previously tried 

 the power of its bill on a stick, and I did not like the impression it made." 



Writing from Ripple Creek, Herbert River, Queensland, on the 8th June, 1896, Mr. J. A. 

 Boyd remarked : — " Mr. Cassidy, a neighbour, told me yesterday that he had seen some very 

 young Jabirus ( Xcnorhynchus asiaticus), and promised to try and get his blacks to obtain 

 eggs for me. I shot a Jabiru the other day and ate it. It was a most delicious bird, and I 

 much regret the scores I have thrown away after taking their feathers." 



From Alstonville, Richmond River, New South Wales, Mr. Henry R. Elvery sent me 

 the following note: — " On the 30th August, igoo, in company with Mr. George Ross, I visited 

 a Jabiru's (Xcnorhynchus asiaticus) nest, from which a set of two eggs had previously been taken. 

 The nest was located in the Tuckiana Swamp, and making an early start we made our way 

 through the swamp, for several miles, in a punt. The nest was a large structure, visible from 

 a long distance, and as we approached the spot I watched it very closely, and my hopes fell 

 when I could observe no signs of life. I felt convinced that such a large bird would be seen if 

 on the nest, and when we could proceed no further in the punt, and were still several chains 

 away, the question arose who would go on and climb the tree? My good natured friend, however, 

 waded through the water and mire, and arriving at the foot of the tree started to climb, when 

 I was very much surprised to see the gigantic bird rise from the nest and fly away. I immedi- 

 ately preferred the mud and slush of the swamp to the punt, and was not long in reaching the 

 foot of the tree, and then my companion called out there were five eggs in the nest, which were 

 partly incubated. A few weeks later I visited the nest alone, but it had apparently been deserted. 

 It was built at the e.Ktreme top of a Tea-tree, with nothing above it, and was spread over the 

 entire top of the tree. I had considerable difficulty in pulling myself over the edge of the nest, 



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