54 ANATID^.. 



ever hatched in these small shallow swainps. About eighteen years ago I saw a fox more than 

 a hundred yards from dry land, out in the sea in Corio Bay, after a large flock of Swans ; this 

 was on a shallow mud flat, which was only covered by water at high tide ; of course the Swans 

 were quite safe in such an open piece of water." 



The late Mr. K. H. Bennett, writing from the Mossgiel District, New South Wales, in 

 1886, remarked: — " Chcuopis atvata is very plentiful in all inland lakes and similar wide sheets of 

 water, and also in the cane swamps in good seasons. It breeds here from September to January." 

 Writing from Yandembah Station in 1SS9, a remarkably wet season, he stated : — " From the 

 8th to the igth June I found many Black Swan's nests in a Polygonum swainp. One contained 

 eight eggs, the reinainder the usual complement in each nest of six eggs; all were fresh." 



Dr. A. Chenery, while resident at Port Augusta, South Australia, sent me a note that he 

 had found Black Swan's nests, with fresh eggs, on Arcoona Station, one hundred and forty miles 

 to the north-west of that place, on the 25th April, 1901. 



From Western Australia Mr. Tom Carter writes me : — " The Black Swan (Chcuopis atvata) 

 occurred in considerable numbers in the north west, and when heavy rains had filled the large 

 inland pools and swamps, bred there. On the 'lake' at the Minilya River, three hundred or 

 more birds could frequently be seen when it was filled with water, and many of them bred there, 

 also on flooded flats of the Gascoyne and Lyndon Rivers, and on salt marshes not far from Point 

 Cloates. I have known instances of them having to desert nests and eggs owing to the water 

 drying up from around the nesting site. Eggs have been noted between the ist May and 12th 

 July in different years. Flocks of these birds may still be occasionally seen in Princess Royal 

 Harbour at Albany." 



While resident on the north-west coast of Tasmania, Dr. L. Holden wrote : — " I found a 

 nest of Chenopis atrata on the gth September, 1886, in a large swamp on Circular Head Peninsula, 

 containing five eggs which had been sat on for about ten days. The nest was a rude shapeless 

 mass of weeds, stems of water plants, dead rushes and the like, very slightly depressed in the 

 centre, and but a few inches above the level of the water. It was placed behind a small patch 

 of reedy grass, the water there being about three feet deep. The parent birds'reared a brood in 

 the swamp the same season. In the following season a brood of young were noted in the same 

 swamp on the 31st August, 1887." 



From Hobart, Tasmania, Mr. Malcolm Harrison has kindly sent me the following notes : — 

 " For many years I had been accustomed to meet with Black Swans in larger or smaller 

 numbers on the estuary of the Derwent, and in the various lakes in Tasmania, but had never 

 seen them in their stronghold and breeding haunts until, in the season of 1907-8, in company 

 with a friend, Mr. A. L. Butler, I took a trip to Moulting Lagoon, on the east coast, near 

 Swansea. We went in search of Rails and Crakes, and in this quest were unsuccessful, but the 

 opportunity given us of observing the Swans quite made up for any disappointment we may 

 have experienced, and the wonderful sight that met our eyes upon boating round a projecting 

 headland one sunny morning in November will, I think, never be forgotten by either of us. The 

 large expanse of water that opened out before us was literally alive with birds that kept retreating 

 towards the further shore as we advanced, always taking care to keep well out of gun shot from 

 force of habit, as of course we were without weapons of offence. Whilst we were watching 

 them with interest something startled them, and then followed a roar and rush as of breakers 

 on a rocky coast, caused by thousands of wings striking the water as the birds rose into the air. 

 Such an immense number of large birds on the wing was one of the most wonderful sights in 

 bird life it has been my privilege to see, enhanced as it was by the striking contrast of the black 

 body and pure white wing feathers. As the birds rose at no distance from the shore beyond 

 them, we had an apportunity of judging the length of the flight with some exactness, and by 

 noting the average ' depth ' of the flock we were able to make a fairly approximate estimate of 



