a bantam fowl, l1ickiii,L! its tail backwards aiul forwards when runiiini;, also the head when 

 swimming. When it takes to flight its plumage appears all brown and its call is likf that of the 

 Australian Coot (I'liUca aiisivalis). 



There is but little \ariation in a number of birds now before me from dillerent parts of the 

 continent. The last trace "f immaturity is exhiliited on the scapulars, where there is a short 

 white fleck near the shaft, on the apical portion of the feathers. The wing-measurement of 

 adult males varies from 8-j to 8.8 inches, and that of adult females from 7'j to 7'(i inches. 



Dr. \V. Macgillivray sent me the following notes respecting the species in the Cloncurry 

 District, Northern Queensland : — " Mici'otvibonyx veiitni/is is common along all the creeks, and is 

 generally met with in (locks, which run and dodge about amongst the !-'olyffoiiiiiii, taking llight 

 only if hard pressed. Knowing this, the blacks often constructed a race of boughs and sticks, 

 which gradually narrows down into a (7//-(/t--5i7i-, over which a net is spread, and into this the 

 Water Hens were driven and caught." 



Mr. K. litheridge. Curator of the Australian Museum, asked me to write to the late Mr. .\. 

 J. Ewen relative to an irruption of this species in Central Uueensland, and from the latter I 

 received the following reply: — " During November and December, igos. and for the first fort- 

 night in (anuary, iijoo, all the district of the L-pper Thomsnn Iviver, in Western Central 

 Queensland, was visited by large numbers of Trihonyx vcntralis. They swarmed in hundreds, not 

 only along the creeks and dams, but were to be met with in the open downs miles away from water. 

 The garden at Kensington I 'owns, situated on Bangall Creek', close to a dam, and fourteen miles 

 from the head station, was entirely eaten out by them. A Chinese gardener at Mutlaburra, and 

 Mr. S. Bailey, another gardener there, were served in the same way, and the cry was similar 

 all over the district. These birds were very good for the table if skinned and stewed, but were 

 too dry when roasted. To give an idea how plentiful they were, the boys about Muttaburra 

 used to kmock them over with stones, and all the poor people there lived on them whilst they 

 lasted. They disappeared (]uite as suddenly as they came, that is within twenty-four hours." 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. .\ustin \wx'Ae: — "I 

 only saw one example of Microtrihonvx vailralis here prior to the year igog, when about half a 

 dozen pairs arrived after a heavy thunderstorm in March. For a few months they took up 

 their quarters at a deep lagoon, about half a mile from my house, then they all came to the dam, 

 which is only about one hundred yards away from my garden fence, and there soon started 

 nesting. They build their nests in all sorts of places, some were in tussocks growing in two feet 

 of water, others in the first fork of Pepper trees, al)out two feet from the ground, and some in 

 the water roots of a Willow tree, but probably the most extraordinary place of all was ten feet 

 from the ground, in the first fork of a Box tree, growing in water about a foot deep. They lay 

 from two to eight eggs, and the young when first hatched are covered with black down, and 

 even at that age have the peculiar habit of continually bobbing their tails. In 1910 this species 

 did not breed here at all." 



Writing in 18S6, while at Mossgiel, in South-western New South Wales, the late Mr. K. \l. 

 Bennett remarked: — "In this locality Trihonyx vcidralii cannot be considered strictly migratory, 

 for it is to be met with in greater or lesser numbers throughout the year. In good seasons, 

 when there is an abundance of succulent herbage surrounding the swamps, and along the borders 

 of creeks and watercourses, it arrives in incredible numbers, and is very destructive to gardens 

 and cultivation paddocks. The breeding season commences in August, and lasts through the 

 two following months. The nests are open structures, composed of soft grasses, and are placed 

 in some thick Polygonum or Giant Salt-bush growing in the water. The young are covered with 

 black down, and even they take to the water on the approach of danger, and swim as readily as 

 young ducks. The migrations of this species are always performed at night. ' 



